Nemesis
by BlossomofEos
Summary: the secret agents Elsa and Jack get the order to solve a new case together. As a cover they have to pretend to be married but they hate each other. And then to make matters worse soon they discover an unsolved crime case of eleven years ago that exists out of covetousness and animosity is about to collapse into the present case to create chaos no living soul would ever expect.
1. PROLOGUE

**Hello everyone, welcome to my new story! To begin it's a heavy rated M story for dark themes and violence. In this fanfiction as well with my others, I use songs between the scenes and I will put them in like that, that you can read along as you listen. I quite recommend it to get the atmosphere and 'excitement' of scene. Also, if you skip parts in this fanfiction I wish you luck with following everything in the end, so that is aboslutely not recommended. Thank you and I appreciate you read this.**

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

Silence and composure filled the protracted empty corridor of the contemporary high tech skyscraper, situated in the heart of LA, as bright sunbeams, sent by Helios himself, shone brightly through the tall windows. People, agents, security, made their way through the sterile halls and training departments as they walked on a lagging and modest pace. Brutal and intrepid gunshots in the distance disturbed the serenity of this mighty and powerful multinational.

_'Hans shoot her down!' 'Damn it Gazelle, grab her!' 'Faster! Run Gazelle, I keep her under shot!'_

Unknown corridors passed the teen, the relentless and deterrent yelling brushed up against the walls, the echoes of their demands resounding through the sterile and lacuna space, and in the middle of the shooting was a sixteen-year-old running through the corridors as fast as her long streamlined legs allowed her to, being chased by itinerant persons, her heartbeats feeling like a drum mixed with fluttering stings, as the sweat on her forehead was evaporating by the sunbeams. Her mind was currently only able to work on the panic that fed her apprehension, as she could only react and move by her common sense that said she was shrouded in maddening quandary, her lost footsteps echoed through the corridors as she almost slipped over the glistening white marble floor when she needed to make a turn to the left, sweaty and perturbed hands grabbing quickly the edge of a wall to keep the tired body up, before it ran further, the pain in heart and chest getting slowly excruciating and sickening how longer she ran.

The perpetual Nyx was shrouding her mentally. _What were her sins?_ The golden stinging sunbeams blinded her eyes, sent by Helios himself who rode on his chariot, pulled by his snow-white horses across the heavens as his loyal sister Eos helped him to embrace day. _What were her truths? _The Horæ, three goddesses that resembled the seasons also known Eunomia, Good Governance, Dike, known as Right and as last Eirene, Peace, helped Helios with saddling his horses and opened the gates of heaven, just like today. But today it was different;

It felt like Nyx, not like Eos.

Footsteps reached her sense of hearing, they were behind her and in seconds the juvenile realized she was chased by two people; one aiming with a gun at her. The teen ran for her life, her long platinum blonde locks swaying over her shoulder when she looked over it, seeing how a woman was chasing her with ebony black hair that reached her shoulders. It was silk and embraced by an aura of dauntless rebellion. She had perfectly cut bangs that reached till her ashen black perfectly on fleek epilated eyebrows, her skin pale as snow and she looked like she had Arabic origins. The fast moves, black hair, cunning and fast moves made her like a black widow, ready to do nothing more but kill along with her bladed prostheses that started under her two knees as replacement for long slender legs. Every time one of her feet hardly touched the ground again after the moment of suspension between the strides she made with running, to hear how the metal came in contact with the sleek marble floor to hear a loud _cling._

Wails and cries escaped the girl's peach coloured lips, mind disobeying common sense, thoughts worked on fear, and legs on Adrenalin. Their minds were driven on covetousness to get possession her body, her being. Their minds were driven to shoot her down, but their minds were driven most of all by possession of someone else, for a higher power, something above them. Her lungs were yelling for oxygen and begging to get the CO₂ out of them as result of shallow breathings and fierce stings.

Peridot green eyes which were possession of the red head stared incisively at her, while loading his Semi-Automat gun, ready to kill, ready to let the bullets of his gun penetrate her skin, penetrate her heart and dreams. _Whooshes_ of the bullets just passed her ears, her being. Legs could only run and her tear ducts could only conceive tears full of desperation. A mental force field was made, thoughts hoping it could make bullets and bereavement ricocheted.

As sudden as a heartbeat and as quick as lightning, nails were digging into pale skin of wrists, her sovereignty was taken, the girl now stumbling over her own feet when force pulled her back. Force by a slim but firm feminine hand of Gazelle. Struggles and wails were thrown into battle to make a way out of the black widow's hands before the collar of her dress was grabbed by the Arab, her brown eyes filled with viciousness, before the defenceless body of her was roughly smashed against the wall of the corridor. Impulses shot through her veins, up her spine straight to her brain. Impulses were shot back to veins as they gave a person the most obnoxious and oppressive feeling that it could feel; pain. Left with bruises and nasty scratches, the figure sank down to the floor as a result of being thrown against the wall so hardly, that comatose was hitting mind and body. Closed eyes couldn't conceal sense of hearing, the voices like a memory; far away and vague as they came in flashes.

A hand grabbed determined her cheek, nails digging in it. Thoughts and mind were convinced this was end, this was destiny; to die, since there was a lacuna in the perpetual silence. A lacuna, till voices made their way back. _'She's as _unfit for the academy as a woman with no legs who needs to run a marathon!' Voices were vague, like an echo, her eyelids still concealed from the world. '_No offence Gazelle_.'

_'You think this is what he wants?'_

'_Definitely. She's a chosen one.'_ The feminine voice pulled her back from the edge of relapse and death, sense of feeling came back and a hand placed around her jawline was to be felt. Tenacious and relentless gazes began to sting, insecurity filling her mind. '_Have you seen those legs? Long and streamlined, thereby _she's smart; she has already passed her first test.'

_'If she's so smart it wouldn't surprise me if she's tricking us with being 'unconscious'. Let me put her to the test.'_

Blood circulation was temporarily stopped when a hand grabbed her arm, jerking her vicious and roughly up. Eyelids shut open to reveal a colour blue, clearer and more beautiful than Polaris herself, the man with the auburn hair pushing her petite form up against the wall now, his torso sandwiching her body between him and the wall. A shallow and hitched wail in pain escaped the teen's swollen lips, after the smash against the wall, arms being grabbed now by Gazelle to put them harshly and malicious on her back.

Every single part of the red head's body was to be felt, how it pushed up against her petite form. "We'd just wanted to welcome you, but then our Princess walks away from us, how unfortunate. Oh but don't worry, we won't shoot you." Cheeks were mollified stroked, hissed words were whispered in ears, questions filled mind and thought and uncomfortable shivers to run down her spine were sent.

"Not yet." Gazelle added before the two bursted out in laughter. ''You think she's an agent for WHPA?''

_"_Who knows? Now come on, search for if she has got any weapons with her!"

Words in protest tried to escape her lips, head and body was pressed against the wall, putting so much pressure on them it was almost on their breaking point, her lungs being squashed as oxygen was slowly, but on a lethiferous way mashed out of them to fill them with CO₂.

She felt how the man with the auburn hair groped her, searched for weapons, for identity, his touches everywhere, his hands gliding down her side, her neck, back, legs, even her breasts and thighs, feelings of embarrassment and fear filling her head to result in tears and wails, desperate to be released out of his greedy hands. "Nothing_."_

Mind spoke before common sense to result in struggles and yells against him. Yells out of the desperation of freedom brushed up against the walls, but a hand stopped them, slapping her cheek and other yell escaped the lips of the juvenile but now in pain. An authoritative nod was exchanged for action; Her body was grabbed again, before it was thrown across the space by Gazelle who smashed her again against a wall, now the opposite one of this one, letting the figure relapse to sink down to the floor.

Crawled up into a ball, she hoped no one could hurt her, but voices brushing up against the wall like a memory, far away in the distance and vague sounds were enough to break her. '_Take her to the CEO!'_

_'Oh yes, but first, let me handle this bundle of personality.' _Cringes were made when the words reached her ears, eyes reacting in a flash to flutter open, her mind wanting to know what the fella's plan was. Arms placed onto her head and the crawling up into a ball like a hedgehog were used for the defenceless girl as armour. The Semi-Automat gun was aimed on her head for the first seconds, now her blue orbs were staring in Death himself. In a swift second, aiming on the chandelier that hung above her head changed destiny of the bullets. The sound of a firing gun was to be heard and her eyes closed firmly in agony and the red head shot at the chain that connected the chandelier to the ceiling.

A gasp in agony was to be heard, eyes widening in utter shock when it was to be seen how the chandelier fell down, now gravity did its work, and the crystal glass was ready to smash itself upon her. Shiftings over the floor of the girl were trying to make sure to escape death, but the next second the chandelier crashed into body and mind.

Thoughts could only track perpetual darkness as the shards were spread out over the floor, with the unconscious figure laying in them, waiting for the death she was willingly taking.

* * *

Eyes fluttered open and her mind questioned how long had she passed out. Eyes were blinked for clearer vision and the teen saw she was in an office of someone. Guards were everywhere around her, standing with their backs against the wall, all holding a gun in their hands; the base in their left hand and the end in their right one. She recognised that Gazelle but the red head whose name she'd forgotten was gone.

A silhouette sat in the brown leather chair in front of a desk. She couldn't see if it was a man or a woman; the back of it was shown. There was a silence that was perpetual. Then the swivel chair moved slowly as it turned to her side. Soon, the light fell onto the features of a man of approximately fifty years old with snow-white hair as the wrinkles embraced his face. She could immediately see he was the CEO of this, in the teen's eyes, strange and dark place.

Security in the room stared at her. Intentions to move were resulting in slow shiftings, but they all moved at the exact same time forward to keep her under shot, their guns all aimed on her as she quickly lifted her hands in the air on a surrendering way. Trembling out of agony was the only thing she could do and she hoped she hadn't come to some mafia society. Her shoulders jolted as a tear ran down her cheek. It was the only thing that moved in the room, as it seemed.

The man had is hands steepled as he cocked flawlessly an eyebrow at her before he slightly lifted his chin, never averting his incisively eye contact with her.

"Who are you?" She spoke to the man, her voice trembling and it was hoarse. Security grabbed her tight and roughly by her arm and one security man put his gun to the side of her head as she closed her eyes in agony and despair, another tear running down her cheek when she felt how the cold metal weapon was put to the side of her head.

She begged and pleaded as she cried to the security to not shoot her when she felt how the guy loaded the gun, ready to pull the trigger, ready to take her life. "CGH#3." He called an alias as that Gazelle took a step forward again. He made a gesture to the sixteen-year-old with his eyes before they darted back at the ruthless woman.

She grabbed her now by her right arm and she did it so tightly she was scared for one second that her blood circulation was about to stop to her arm and hand. She tried to move and struggle against her but the woman lashed out with her metal prostheses leg, slamming it with all her power against hers and she almost collapsed and fainted under the pain. She was crying and she wanted to lie down on the ground to collapse, but the woman jerked her upwards as she hissed viciously in her ear she had to shut up.

Impassive and penetrating gazes were the only things the man gave her, as somehow an amused grin spread across the man's face. He cocked his head slightly to the right in a jerking way as he broke eye contact for one second with her to look at the guard who kept her under shot.

Security put a step backwards, the gun finally removed from the side of her head, like he was almost a guy in the army, so precise he was doing it. It couldn't be humane. Every move was trained, every breath, every heartbeat. It was like he was a robot, and if he wasn't, she was convinced it wasn't humane. He stood against the wall, the end of his long gun in his left hand as he held the base of the gun in his right hand, staring forward with a glassy expression and she wanted to look if he even blinked with his eyes but then, the enigmatic man with the snow-white hair spoke and she turned her head back to him.

"Nicholas North, CEO of the International Security Agency." He introduced himself after one excruciating minute of silence, now breaking the perpetual lacuna. She raised her eyebrow in her incomprehension, still not knowing who he was. "We protect human society under strict professional secrecy and obligation of confidentiality." He spoke reserved and solemn as he stared at the astonished girl who was too shocked to speak.

"I don't like it when people invade my agency without being invited."

She was nodding in response, before she cried like a little girl. "So-sorry t-that I di-discovered this pla-place okay! I was par-partying at my be-best friend Lo-Louise and the-then I discovered a-an identity o-of some so-society called the-"

"Guys. Shoot her." North interrupted her determined as he stared at her but he did it so incisively she had the idea he stared through her.

"Wh-What?" She gasped breathlessly, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she was sure every living soul in the room could hear it. She was staring in the eyes of Death himself now.

"You've heard me." North spoke ominous although an amused grin spread across his face and on this moment the sixteen-year-old was sure it was devilish and heartless. He had raised in the meantime and folded his hands behind his back as he spoke to his guards. "Guys, shoot her. She is where we're looking for. She's a chosen one. CGH#3, you know what you have to do."

"Get on your knees." Gazelle demanded cold on a hissing tone, jerking her closer to her. The teen didn't understand it and she stared in her panic of doing something wrong at everybody for help, as she didn't as well didn't dare to move. "I said: GET ON YOUR FUCKING KNEES." She yelled at her before she dropped to the floor, supported herself on her hands, lifting herself off the ground before she lashed out again with her prostheses leg in a kung-fu way to floor her. Her leg slammed against her legs on such a hard way she fell down to floor on her knees.

Gazelle raised with a smirk, grabbed her hands and put them on the back of her head, she still being defenceless. She heard how the guard with the gun walked to her again. Apparently the gun had a little screen as her saw in the corner of her eye how it lit up into a 3D hologram. The man tapped on a hologram with a bullet, and then on something else, but she couldn't see what and she heard how he loaded it.

Shoulders were drooped and jolting as the beaten figure was sitting in the middle of the room on her knees, her hands on the back of her head, while she was crying, the hot tears filled with agony rolling down her cheeks as some fell on the ground.

"It would be an honour if you let me cut off her hair till her shoulder with my bladed prosthesis, North." Gazelle spoke smirking devilish. "We need her neck exposed anyway."

"No Gazelle."

Gazelle rolled with her eyes as she moved the teen's long blonde hair to the other side of her shoulder to expose her neck, her skin tone pale as snow.

The man walked closer to her, held her under shot from a distance, as he aimed for her neck, closing one eye to concentrate himself. She could hear a pin drop before that Nicholas North spoke.

"_Now_."

The last thing she heard and felt was how the man shot her, the bullet penetrating through her neck, impaling her as a vicious feeling of pain attacked her. Lip was bitten, eyes were closed firmly and she was hoping this was her end. She was waiting till Death would redeem her but she kept on being conscious.

_She wasn't dead?_

She slowly dared open her eyes before moving her right hand off the back of her head to her neck and when she moved her hand back, there was crimson coloured blood dripping off her fingers onto the ground.

The woman grabbed her tightly by her shoulder and grabbed her neck, moving it to the side to expose it so her wound was to be seen. "The tracker, North. It's there." She spoke enigmatic as she smirked confidently.

North placed his hand on his desk and the girl looked up when she saw it was actually a huge touch screen. He placed his hand on the right side of his desk and as soon it had scanned his handprint, it unlocked to show a screen. Within seconds it became a 3D hologram, showing the globe that made its way around the sun, being part of its solar system. He placed his fingers onto the hologram and zoomed in with his fingers as he concentrated himself on the West coast of North America, Los Angeles apparently.

A red light signal was to be seen as its light went off and on every half second somewhere in the centre of Los Angeles. She realised in seconds, that red dot signal was _her_. They've shot a tracker in her neck!

"Why all this, am I your enemy, do you need to eliminate me, am I some new-"

North walked rapidly to her before held his hand out on a stiff way as he spoke with a smile. "Secret agent? Yes."

Her eyes widened in pure shock and mock at the same time. She was convinced she was lucid dreaming, that this wasn't real. But if it was... She asked herself why she was chosen, why she was here, if Louise, her best friend, was a secret agent, or was about to become one. Then she realised this was her aspiration in life. This was her destiny.

She held shaking her hand out. Within seconds her hand came in contact with his warm, big hand as they shook them.

"Welcome at the ISA academy, Elsa Winters."


	2. Chapter I The ISA

**CHAPTER I: the International Security Agency**

**TEN YEARS LATER**

The hot summer sun shone down upon the metropolis Los Angeles in the United States. She made sure the ocean water of the Pacific that bordered to Los Angeles was warm enough to surf on, she made sure as well that thousands of locals and tourists got tanned, that everybody got the summer vibe, and not to forget; that everybody's sweat was pouring down their bodies.

Los Angeles was busy; hundreds of tourists walked over the Walk of Fame, made photos of the Hollywood sign, were shopping in the malls that got beyond their imagination and fantasies because they were so big. Some went surfing at Long-or Santa Monica Beach, although it were most of the time the locals who dared to join the wild blue lagoon coloured waves of the Pacific.

Simultaneously at the other side of LA, the normal life continued; airplanes were taking off 24/7 at LAX, the international airport of LA, to fly high in the sky to their world destination. The highways were stuck in huge pile-ups; as usual, while millions of people coloured the streets of the city that they called home. From poor to rich, from upper class to lower class, from wanderers to movie stars and from people with a job in the Financial District to undercover agents; LA welcomed everyone. Rodeo Drive, one of the most expensive avenues in the world, was embraced and shrouded with the palm trees that stood in a long line next to the burning hot pavement where red Ferraris, Porsches and other expensive cars drove on. The blue azure sky hung above the Pacific Ocean that was not even seven miles away from the heart of LA, as the sun hung heliocentric in the sky, telling nature that it was noon.

Even now, when hundreds of people tried to find the cool shadow or a cosy ice cream salon to enjoy the combination of flavour and cold in the hottest part of the day, this certain twenty-six-year-old woman walked further without complaining over the world famous avenue, shopping and gallivanting over the streets and avenues in her own little paradise.

The young agent looked up when someone called her. She searched in her Louis Vuitton bag and revealed her iPhone 6 plus. It vibrated rhythmically as the picture and caller ID of her mother, Charlotte Winters, appeared on the screen. Charlotte had brown hair and friendly blue eyes. Her daughter had her mother's eyes inherited, although Elsa got her blonde locks from her father. The photo of her and her mother hugging each other, it was made on a vacation in Norway, appeared on screen. She ticked on the green button so she answered the phone.

"Hey mum?"

_"Hey! I wasn't sure if you would answer the phone, because you are working of course, but I thought; let's give it a try."_ Her mum said surprised, while a rambunctious giggle escaped her lips. Elsa felt that she was blushing furiously. She didn't have a case at the moment and she spent her free time shopping at Rodeo Drive.

"Yes, how by chance." She spoke with a light chuckle.

"_At half past three? Why do I hear a crowd and cars in the background? It's pretty obtrusive_." Her mother asked with a tone of suspicion in her voice. The twenty-six-year-old wanted to place her hand on the phone so her mother couldn't hear anything of the background noise, but of course then her mother couldn't hear her daughter speaking. She panicked a bit with despondency and looked around for inspiration to get around it. She saw a businessman in suit on the other side of the road walking with a sandwich in his hand.

"Oh, I'm taking a break." She said quickly, while kicking with her stiletto a little pebble forwards, hoping her way of thinking as in perspectivism would help her. She felt how her cheeks became warmer, while she was staring embarrassed and wistfully at the ground with drooping shoulders, feeling a bit apprehensive what her mother would answer.

_"Oh, explain to me what's happened, please."_ Her mother said confusedly as well worried on that typical 'mother' tone.

The platinum blonde agent walked past a window with Jimmy Choo shoes. She gasped for air when she saw them, while laying her hands on the glass and her eyes widened till they were the size of saucers when she saw the beauties in front of her. Beautiful pairs of stilettos were standing in front of her, but there was this one pair that caught her attention; they had a sand colour with Swarovski diamonds that covered the whole heel. "Say hello to your new mummy…" She whispered, while imagining how perfectly the shoes would hug her feet.

"_Eh are you still there?"_ She heard her mother asking at the other side, while snapping with her fingers to wake her daughter up from her daydream.

The young woman came back to the present. "What? Oh yes we were in an ehm, a meeting." She lied again quickly as she still didn't avert her gaze from the pair of shoes in front of her. She was so bad at lying; her cheeks had turned pink and she was stammering. Her mother told her she wanted to know why she was taking a break. A nervous swallow and another attempt was made to dodge this bullet. "I eh felt very stuffy and I had the idea I almost fainted. Stupid summer here in LA, you know I hate the sun. It's too hot." She spoke dramatically while placing her Dior sunglasses on the bridge of her nose so the sun couldn't bother her eyes.

_"You are inside, sweetheart, remember? If you don't feel well, you should go to a doctor."_ Her mother said advisable. It was clear she was worried about precious daughter. But the girl insisted that she was alright and she tried to cut off the conversation as soon as possible so she could stop lying, but her mother spoke once again. "_Almost forgotten to ask, that was the reason why I called you, could you come in two months to your father's birthday party on the nineteenth of October?"_

With an eyebrow that was cocked upwards in suspicion, she asked why her mother had arranged this all so soon. She was still standing in front of the window. "_Well, it has happened before that you didn't turn up at family parties, weddings and even funerals._" Her mother said matter-of-factly, now on an almost irritated tone, although it was still calm and tempted, almost laconic.

Another furious blush and the twenty-six-year-old bit nerving her lip when her mother had spoken the utter, but painful truth. Nobody was allowed to know her real identity; even her family thought she worked somewhere at an office, had a job from eight to five and had the most normal life their daughter could possibly have. But on the contrary, she had no certainty when it came to the working hours of her job. It could be any moment that she got a call from her boss with the information that she had to come to the headquarter in Los Angeles, because she was about to get a new case.

However, at the moment, she had absolutely no idea when she would get another case. Maybe in two months she was out of work just like now, but maybe she was somewhere at the other side of the globe and then she was not able to attend the party of her father. She stood motionless in the burning hot sun that burned into her skin like ten thousand flames. _''Darling, you are coming this year right?"_ Her mother asked when she remained silent.

She thought as she hummed. "There is a possibility that I have over-labour, I'll call you later about that when I have more information." She said quickly, again trying to cut off the conversation with her mother. Her mother begged her to come and told her that her four year younger baby sister had missed her a lot when she hadn't come to the family parties eventually for three years in a row. She spoke quickly that her mother didn't have to worry and that she would call her eventually when she knew if she had over-labour. And then finally, the two had hung up. She sighed when she pushed the red button on her screen in to break connection and stop calling.

The only thing she despised was that she always had to lie to her family. She wanted to tell them where she was capable of, that she could handle a gun, was involved in shootings and that she was having this job, but she wasn't allowed to; She all couldn't because she had the obligation of confidentiality. If she would break it, you would get a letter personally signed by your CEO that it wouldn't take long till you and your family stared in the eyes of Hades, god of the Underworld and Death, himself. You had to be pretty stupid to disobey to the contract you'd signed that you wouldn't tell anyone, 'cause if you were chosen to work for the ISA, you could call yourself officially a lucky bird; you couldn't knock on the door and ask for a lead-up like you can with the police. You had to be at the right place, at the right time and it was also a bonus if fate was on your side.

The only people who were allowed to know about her job and cases were her best friends who were always there for her. They were all working for the ISA as agents named as Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup Haddock, Merida Dunbroch and Kristoff Bjørgman. They knew each other from the ISA academy. It was where you were trained for five years before you became an agent. The lead-up was heavy; from all the twenty people who got chosen every year, not even half of them made it till the end. That could be, because it was mentally or physically too heavy or just simply because of death. This criminal world was certainly not a game.

She walked further down the avenue and forty-five minutes later, she bought all new stuff, mostly designer's brands. Money was no problem for her; she got paid very well for the succeeded cases she solved. She still couldn't abandon the thought of her mother that would become mad if she discovered her daughter couldn't make it to the family party for the she'd-lost-count-how-many-times and she also couldn't let go of that perfect pair of shoes she'd seen, so she decided to walk back to the shop. Within ten minutes she arrived at it and the doorman opened the perfectly patched transparent glass door that shone in the sun. "Welcome miss, how can I help you?" A woman with black hair asked politely. With her big amygdala shaped brown eyes as a gracious eyeliner wing made her eyes look ever more beautiful, she probably came from the Middle East. The platinum blonde looked at the name sign. _Jasmine_. The agent was convinced it was a beautiful name.

"Hi, I've seen a pair of shoes in the window that I'd like to try on. It was the pair with the sand colour and the diamonds that covered the heel?"

"Of course! What's your shoe size?" Jasmine asked, while folding her hands together. Her nails were perfectly varnished into a crimson red colour. She told this Jasmine her shoe size and after that, the saleswoman got the shoes for her. The agent plopped down on a white leather couch, before she looked around. It was pretty crowded in the shop. She checked her mobile. _'No notifications'_ was to be seen on her screen. She sighed. She was convinced she definitely needed this pair; they were made for her and only for her.

She loved LA and she has lived here for seven years and has been working five years for the ISA, the International Security Agency, as an agent with confidentiality. People like to call it 'secret agent', but she thought it was just a silly name for just her job. It could be as in the movies, but some things were as untrue as _the implants of the Kardashian's_. This was the reality, this was how it truly was; getting cases every time, having always a gun with you, and she always put hers in her bag. She was always on the look out; wasn't there someone to attack her, did no one follow her. After all the five years she had worked for the ISA, there were enough enemies who couldn't wait to shoot a bullet through her head, so she was always cautious. But even when it wasn't as perfect as in the movies and books, it wasn't disappointing at all in the agent's opinion. It was just like working for the police, but she always wore an alias in her working hours, and there were a few other things that were different, but further, there wasn't a huge difference.

'Secret agent'. The name enough made her laugh and it sounded so silly after all the movies like Kingsman. And not to forget the TV show Totally Spies, the show where her sister and her always used to watch it when they were kids. And even when the movies and TV shows were kickass and truly amusing for her to look at, it just wasn't reality. There was a core of truth in it, but there was always this one villain who wanted to 'take over the world' or in Kingman's plot; destroy humanity.

How ironic.

And then the agents would get kidnapped by the evil guy, evil guy tells his evilly evil plan, evil guy goes away and leaves the agents to die, while evil guy prepares himself for victory, the agents escape with their _high tech laser lipstick_ and take revenge one second before evil guy was about to push the _'destroy humanity and my evil plans come true'_ button in, so they save the world from destruction and evil guy is thrown into jail. But oh then you get a special episode where evil guy escapes and takes revenge on the CEO of the whole agency who turns out to be his brother.

_Impressive._

As you can see, she and her sister have watched too much Totally Spies when they were young.

Jasmine walked back and she snapped out of her thoughts. The shoes were handed over to her and the shop-a-holic felt the soft leather on the shoe, the diamonds on the heel and she was convinced the total picture was splendid. She carefully kicked out her own high heels and tried them on. She felt like Cinderella since they fit her perfectly. She raised and walked towards a mirror. Jasmine smiled in mirth. "They're beautiful ma'am."

Elsa smiled. "These are the ones. I take them." She spoke determined with a bright shimmer in her eyes, while taking off the shoes. She laid them carefully in the box. And sooner yet later, Elsa walked out of the shop with all her bags in her hands. Even now when the hot sun was shining down upon her and when she felt sweaty, she still behaved like it didn't bother her.

She had the idea was emaciated, since her stomach was begging for food with the well-known growling sound. She found a Subway food shop and fifteen minutes later she was eating her sandwich. Anna, her sister, was in fond with them and when Elsa came to San Francisco, where her sister and parents were living, they always ate sandwiches at Subway. She sat down at a table and just when she took a bite out of her sandwich, she heard her phone vibrating in her bag.

"_Whello wit Elsa Wintwers_." She mumbled, still eating.

"_Elsa, we need you at the ISA in three hours. I see you in my office_." Elsa was shocked for a second when she heard who it was; it was Nicolas North, who was the CEO of Los Angeles, the agency where she worked for along with five hundred other people in the building and that was excluded the actual agents 'cause that number laid around forty and she didn't even know all of them. North had his origins in Russia, but moved seventeen years ago to the US to replace temporarily another CEO, but after a while, their former one quit and he was so intrigued to play the boss, that he has never gone away. The rest was history and still, she and forty other agents got their case information from him.

A blush spread across the woman's cheeks. As a voice in her head groaned why she first hadn't checked who called and that she had to swallow her food before answering. She swallowed her food so she could speak. "Is there a new case?"

"_Yes and it's a big one. If you solve this case you're getting promotion_." North said business-like while he almost sang it on a vivacious tone.

A skipped heartbeat.

She'd wanted this promotion for already two years. She nodded, spoke she would come and she hung up the phone and put it away. She didn't know what she could expect from this new case. It could be anything, but she didn't mind; she liked adventure and mystery. The ISA concentrated itself on cases where the police wasn't an option for. Her agency solved sometimes an apparent case and not the police, because there was nine out of ten times a huge chain of connections and you had to get into contact with the people who could've actually committed the crime or had connections with the 'master brain' of the case and not with the eye witnesses, thereby they didn't do normally cases with murder or bomb explosions. Difference was as well that you had to pretend to be a normal person, instead of the police, who liked it to visit you with their guns in sight as they wore their blue uniforms which were to be recognised at the very horizon, while they sat in their well-known cars with flashing lights and glaring sirens.

No, she liked it to keep her gun in her Louis Vuitton bag.

When she was done with eating her sandwich, she walked towards her cabrio BMW M3 and crossed home.

Forty minutes later, she arrived at the quarter where she was living in, she pressed the button that was inserted in her car keys and the automatic fence opened that gave access to the expensive and luxurious quarter that was equipped with a fence that only residents had the access to. The electric fence opened and soon she arrived at the driveway of her house. She again pressed a button, so the electric fence in front of her home opened and she drove towards it. She heard how the gravel cracked under the rubber tires of her car. Very soon, she saw her beautiful white mansion appearing with the swimming pool in the backyard that gave sight upon the Pacific. It was specially designed and built on a cliff so when you relaxed on the edge, you looked upon the huge ocean.

It wasn't that she was at home a lot; she was always everywhere except at home, because she was solving some case. But she was single, so she bothered no one. And this work demanded so much flexibility from all agents, it was almost impossible to have a relationship; you always had to lie towards your partner and you were never at home. It was almost impossible to have a family in this business. Sometimes ISA colleagues married, so no one had to lie to each other, but still kids and pets were practically impossible to have.

She opened the front door and walked inside. The cool air breeze from the air-conditioning hugged her. Her house was perfectly cooled. The only thing she truly hated about LA were the hot summers, where you constantly felt how the sunbeams burned your skin, where you always had to wear sunglasses so the sun wouldn't bother your eyes and where you felt so lazy from all the heat that almost attacked your body so you felt like a hamburger on a barbecue. She plopped down on the couch, as she simultaneously dropped all the bags out of her hands. She felt the sweat on her forehead and then realised she couldn't arrive at the ISA and North like this. She thought that it could be a good idea to go swimming before heading off to the ISA.

She changed herself into her bikini and soon she laid in her cleaned swimming pool, sunbathing on her air mattress with her Dior sunglasses on. The palm trees rocked quietly along on the minimal wind and the sky was azure blue above her. There was not one single cloud in the sky. She closed her eyes to relax. She found it so prefect to be alone, no husband, no pets, nothing. Thereby, she was the favourite employee of North because she was so flexible. Most of her colleagues had a family and could not always stay away from home for months, but Elsa was always available in any given time.

Elsa mostly flew the next day to her destination when she'd got a new case. Sometimes she stayed five months at the apparent place, sometimes only two weeks, it always depended on the type of the case. There have also been scenarios where she had been for three months or even longer out of work, because she didn't have one, but she never got bored; after all, LA was a shopping paradise.

She noticed she had to be at the ISA in half an hour and she knew the highways in LA were nothing, but crap. Always, there was some stupid traffic jam or a pile-up and the pavement was badly maintained.

She changed herself into her all-day clothes and pulled her platinum blonde hair into the French braid that never disappointed her. She looked at herself in the mirror. She wore aubergine coloured pants, sand-coloured vest with an aubergine leather jacket and sand-coloured high heels. People always asked to the half Norwegian if she dyed her hair, but it was her natural hair colour. She picked her bag up, got into the car and crossed to her work.

As always, she drove right into a traffic jam. The burning forty degrees sun shone down upon her. She thought having a cabrio was perfect if she drove with her hair in the wind, since that was just classy in her opinion, but if she was stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour with all the revving of other cars shrouding her, while she felt how the burning sun almost barbecued her, it was nothing more than hell. "Great, my boss is going to kill me if I'm too late." She groaned impatiently, while she narrowed her eyes meticulously in an immaculate death glare, not comprehending the government couldn't do anything about this burning hell. She pressed irritated her hand on the horn, because the car in front of her didn't move, even though he could drive again.

"Bye bye new promotion, Elsa." She groaned to herself, while she impatiently drummed with her fingers on the steering wheel. She wanted music. She grabbed her bag and searched in it for her Taylor Swift album. She opened the CD box, picked the CD out of it and inserted it into the CD player. In seconds 'Blank Space' was played. She softly sang, half mumbling along with the music. Some drivers who were standing next to her in the traffic jam turned their heads around to hear from which car the music came.

She was convinced they were ungrateful creatures; they got free music and they didn't appreciate it! Actually she wanted to show them her beautiful middle finger, but Elsa was a true lady and this behaviour didn't quite suit her. So instead, she lifted her sunglasses on top of her head and smiled innocent, while waving at them.

She looked up when she saw how a red Ferrari convertible stopped next to her. The man who was sitting in it had auburn hair and emerald green eyes, a well-formed nose and he looked quite handsome. Elsa snorted and turned her head back to look again at the burning hot pavement in front of her.

_'Love's a game wanna play_?' Taylor Swift sang.

"Nice music you have there, sweetheart." The guy shouted over the music with a wink. She moved her head in the direction of the man with an unwritten face. "Do you like to come over to my house?"

Elsa rolled annoyed with her eyes, as she didn't even understand why on earth he asked it. "Too busy."

The man chuckled in mock. "With what?"

"Saving the world." She spoke deviously, while showing her middle finger. The traffic moved and she crossed away.

Five minutes too late she arrived at the ISA headquarter that was a huge modern skyscraper. She locked her car so it made the well-known sound. She walked to the revolving door, scanned her identity, so it moved and she could enter the modern building.

ISA always sent their agents everywhere in the world for cases. The headquarter of the United States was situated in LA in the middle of the skyscrapers, here where she walked now, and it made part of the skyline of this mighty metropolis.

Every country had a headquarter and most of the times it was located in the capitol of the apparent country. France had Paris, The Netherlands had Amsterdam, Japan had Hong Kong, South Africa had Cape Town, Norway had Oslo, and so on. But the United States had two headquarters: one was the international one in New York and the national headquarter was in Los Angeles. The difference between the international and the national headquarter was that it was like the United Nations the world leaders had; every CEO of a headquarter that represented a country visited New York every year to meet all the other CEOs for important meetings and congresses. The only difference of course was that the world leaders represented their country and not their headquarter, but the idea was the same.

Elsa greeted the receptionist politely, while she walked past a huge painting of Laurence Lefèvre that hung in the lobby that had a glass rooftop, the serenity and sunbeams filling the sterile white space.

Laurence Lefèvre was the CEO, founder of the ISA and your boss if you worked for this mighty company. If you, as an agent, wanted to get the honour to meet her you had to manage to impress her so she would invite you to her office in Paris, and now the last thing was something almost no one had seemed to achieve until today. No one, except for Hans Westerguard, the true legend of the International Security Agency. No case had been too hard for the redhead and Laurence wanted to see him with her own meticulous brown eyes after hearing a lot about her hard working employee. Hans, as a rational person, and Laurence, as a business-like tycoon with practically all power of the world, matched quite well and it was even said Hans was invited to visit her more often. You would almost call them friends.

But then out of nowhere Hans had resigned from his job to turn his back to the ISA with no apparent reason as far as everyone knew. Whenever someone mentioned Hans now, Laurence snapped coldly at the person he'd found another job, but it was clear the CEO kept truth a secret. Elsa has never understood why she did. The day that Hans had decided to quit her beloved company hadn't been the worst one of her life, but the Française surely did miss the company of the somewhat charming male agent.

Laurence was seen as really pretty with her black hair, although she looked European with her quite pale complexion. Her eyes were brown and could either spit fire or give love. The woman wore always the newest fashion and if you'd see her walking down the street you would think she was nothing more but a gold digger that lived from the money of her husband, but in fact, it was her and not her drop-dead beautiful husband who earned most of the money to buy her Chanel purses from.

She had one seventeen-year-old daughter named Sophie, who -if she had to believe the stories- did everything God had forbidden. On the contrary when it came to Laurence's dog, a svelte Dalmatian named Zara, who always listened to her owner. Zara was the only thing that could change her eyes from igneous into showing love. The woman was just known to be cold and standoffish. Thereby, she drew a strict line between business and private life.

Furthermore, Laurence always wore black sunglasses when walking outside and two high standing guys that you could call with no doubt her bodyguards practically always made sure this mighty figure couldn't get harmed. Never did they go from her side. They had to; she was the legend of the ISA and therefore had a lot of enemies as well.

It's a fact; fame brings hate.

The CEO could be a total bitch to you if she didn't like you, but if she did or if you managed to earn her respect either the dog's –a true impossible mission-; the tycoon could be quite nice. For now the chance of meeting her either her beautiful Dalmatian was practically impossible. -Or you had to believe your personal fairy godmother was about to visit you and would bibbidy bobbidy boo you to Laurence and Zara-.

Elsa took the lift to the fiftieth floor, where North's office was established. A jazz lift tune played as she was standing in the lift as she quickly refreshed her make up a bit in the mirror. 'Always dress in case you would meet your biggest enemy.' She thought firmly. When she was done with her make-up, the grey lift doors rolled aside. She had arrived at the floor where the office of her boss was situated.

She walked up to the immense big doors of North's office and knocked. "It's me, Elsa." She announced business-like.

"Come in." She heard North saying laconic. Elsa opened the door and stepped inside the office of her sometimes chaotic boss. ''Ah, Elsa sit down." He said with his Russian accent. Sometimes he mixed phrases and sentences, but you could still understand him well and sometimes they even laughed about it. Now North was a big and intimidating guy. He had a lot of facial hair that was snow-white since he was around the sixty-years-old. There were always security guys that stood in the corner of the room to make sure no one harmed him. About ten years ago, they'd put a gun to the side of Elsa's neck and shot her with a tracker. She wasn't very fond of them, of course. Every agent was equipped with it and every five years, they had to remove the old tracker to replace it for a new one. It wasn't a very pleasant procedure, but it helped her with the job so Elsa tried not to complain about the pain that stayed there for days. Besides, it'd once saved her life which made her realise they really needed that thing.

Elsa did as she was asked to and sat down on one of the two soft chairs in front of North's desk. It was buried under all the piles of papers, documents, pencils and even_ cookies_. The only thing that was perfectly serviceable was his huge space grey Apple computer, his pride. But even though the room was a huge mess, Elsa had always felt at home. For five years she'd gotten the information about her upcoming cases here. And it could be pretty cosy his office. -If North liked you-

"Welcome." North began. "You here for new case. Before I explain what's going to happen, let me first congratulating you. Your previous case in Chicago, that you solved pretty well, impressed everybody! That's why me giving you harder and more dangerous case." He smiled brightly; and he was clearly proud of his hard working employee. As forecasted, he mixed up his sentence where she was used to by now. Elsa nodded confidently. "Want coffee? Oh no, you always drink tea, that's right." North said, while he shook his head. She was impressed that he remembered her personal favourites and that could only mean this guy was really happy with her. Elsa nodded again. Her boss pressed some button on his desk, which was connected with his staff and spoke. "Toothiana, mint tea…" He looked up to find Elsa raising her eyebrow. He cracked a smile and added. "Please.''

"_On the way!"_ She replied. Toothiana was his secretary and was a super nice person. She had black hair, came from Asia and had various feathery extensions in all kinds of colours in her hair. Sometimes she was a little quick tempered and over enthusiastic, but without bad intentions.

North sat down at his office desk and looked serious at Elsa, he shove closer to it, rubbed his hands before steepling his fingers to speak. Elsa looked up when an air hologram arose from his desk with information and photos. Her boss cleared his throat. "Okay, now we getting back to business. You're going to New York to solve new case for couple Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They are owners of the largest bank, the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. There has been money stolen from their bank account. Strange is that the money has been stolen without the system being shut down; someone must've had codes. " North said seriously, his face was filled with scrutiny. Elsa raised an eyebrow when she heard about the case.

"That seems unlikely." She said sarcastically, not believing how someone could steal a huge amount of money without leaving any trace. "Are we dealing with a master thief or something?" She snickered in mock, as the agent wasn't amused at all by this 'mysterious' money missing.

North smirked. "I give you the task to find that out." He turned the hologram off, so she could see his face clearly. "But you're not going to work alone this time…" Elsa raised suspiciously in the crease her eyebrow at her boss, before he continued undisturbed, "May I introduce you to Mr. Frost."

Elsa looked up and saw the door of North's office opening. A young man walked in, wearing a formal business suit with a white blouse underneath that wasn't entirely buttoned up. He had silvery-or how the French called it- 'argenté' hair, striking blue eyes that had endless depths to get lost in and his posture was very good, very straight, in her opinion. He couldn't be much older than twenty-seven years old, she decided as she scanned his features quickly. Strange, his hair colour and is age in combination. Although it suited him. Elsa quickly intentioned to just say his hair was so blonde it almost looked white.

A silence.

Then, the blonde suddenly recognised him from a staff party three months ago. And they once had a training together, learning how to throw knives. It seemed like this 'Frost' guy recognised her as well. He extended his hand as he introduced himself. "Hello, Jack Frost." Him kissing her hand tenderly made her feel weak in the knees as she felt his perfectly soft lips upon her hand. Elsa inhaled the smoke of a heavy aftershave mixed with Abercrombie &amp; Fitch perfume that hung around him. "Elsa, it is an honour and a pleasure to be working with you; I've heard a lot of good things about you." Elsa looked at him, disapprovingly, while her eyes glided down his very well formed body, before she narrowed her eyes. 'Trying to be the gentlemen in front of the boss, huh loser.' A voice snorted in her head.

He was the cunning flirt and smarmy charmer of the ISA who liked to treat every woman like his Aphrodite, his inamorata. He probably has had a one-night stand with almost all the woman of the ISA, Elsa thought. He has worked for the company for seven years now and was a very appreciated man; he always had a resolute answer, had a lot of connections with other people, and knew always how to solve cases within the given time he had to solve them. Thereby, It'd rarely happened that he'd failed in his missions.

-In the bedroom and the case-

Jack looked at her from top to bottom in his full interest. Elsa cocked an eyebrow at him, not knowing what to think about her flirty one-night stand colleague who was treating every woman like his inamorata, before leaving her without a pardon.

He gave her a quick immaculate flirty wink and sat down in the chair next to her. Elsa ignored the troublemaker and looked with an emotionless face forward to North who spoke enthusiastically. "So, this is the plan: You will be co-operating with him for eight months." 'O god, I hate my job.' She thought with a groan. "You live in one apartment with him." North continued. 'I hate my job now even more.' ''And he is going to be your husband." 'I quit.'

''Since most of the times when you marry someone as a woman, you take the surname over from your husband, so from now on you will be addressed as Mrs. Frost." North said matter-of-factly, while leaning back in his huge chair and he steepled his fingers once more, now just changing amusedly her name in one swift second. _Yeah, why not?_ "It is just a cover, later, when the case is solved you both can go back to your normal names."

Elsa sighed dramatically with a mocking cock of her eyebrow at her boss. Jack snickered, while he again gave her a wink as she asked herself if he hadn't gotten something in his eye. "You mean that we have to pretend we are 'married'?" Jack asked, turning his head towards her, while quoting his fingers in the air when he spoke the word 'married'.

"Exactly. This case is serious stuff. The people you are going to deal with suspect everything. You have to pretend like you are a happily married couple." North said strictly, almost like he was explaining the rules of a fun game, although it wasn't that fun at all. With every case there was a chance you wouldn't survive, since there was always a risk that you could be shot or other grim things could happen.

Elsa sighed softly, giving in, but her inside was screaming that there was no way she was getting 'married' with this guy. "North, we don't have any rings." She said deadpanned pointing at her ring finger. North looked at her, questioningly. Before he could part his lips to speak, Elsa already interrupted him. "A wedding ring, please. You know I am 'married' with the guy?" She clarified business-like with a snort, while quoting her fingers in the air at 'married'. Jack turned his head in her direction, nodding affirmatively.

"Good idea, buy some in New York at a jewellery shop." North said like it was nothing. Jack nodded in response, just like Elsa. The money wasn't a problem for them; of course they were paid well for solved cases. "Jack and Elsa, I want to give you a challenge." Jack turned his head towards Elsa and cocked an eyebrow at her. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

Suddenly, the door opened and everybody looked up. Toothiana walked in with a tray in her hands with Elsa's mint tea on it. She greeted them happily when she saw her half-friend. Toothiana wasn't really a 'friend'. She was more like a very nice person to hang out with. Elsa smiled politely and waved reserved, but with a friendly smile. Toothiana then noticed Jack sitting next to Elsa. She smiled widely. ''Hey Jack, how are you doing?" She asked friendly while she put the hot tea in front of Elsa. A little cloud of steam arose from it, informing that it was hot. A nod in gratitude was exchanged as Elsa thankfully and sipped some of it. She closed her eyes in total bliss.

Jack smiled seductively. He planted that irresistible everlasting smirk that never abandoned him and never got him bored, on his handsome face. That extra wide smile in combination with those white teeth showing had always melted every girl in front of him. Elsa raised an eyebrow. They were gorgeous. 'Just like him.' A voice in her head sighed. Elsa's cheeks turned red when she thought the sentence. This guy was well-dressed, well-mannered and had the perfect looks. Only his behaviour plus demeanour was a thing she absolutely despised. "I'm fine Tooth, thank you." Jack answered with a perfect smile.

"O my god! Your teeth are really as white as they say! Just like freshly fallen snow! And you didn't even whiten them!" Toothiana exclaimed happily, her voice vivacious while almost running towards him. Before Jack could react Toothiana was already with her fingers in his mouth amazed by -in her opinion- his white teeth that had the colour of freshly fallen snow. It seemed like Jack didn't know if he had to react confused or thankful. He mumbled unintelligible that that was true, as she was still with her fingers in his mouth, clearly fascinated by the whiteness she was seeing in front of her.

"Toothiana! We aren't at dentist!" North said strictly with his Russian accent, raising slightly his voice. Toothiana immediately stopped, stepped back and quickly folded her hands behind her back as she apologised herself. Jack spoke quickly it was alright, still a bit confused about what happened, since he did not comprehend what Toothiana's fingers did in his mouth, as he frowned a bit.

After that, she quickly left North's office. They heard the door closing and within the second the door closed North whispered. "She was dentist in training." Elsa pulled a confused face, raising slightly an eyebrow at her boss. "Never mind." North said, quickly while waving it away. "Time is money, let's get back to business. About our little challenge: The one who will successfully solve this case will be promoted, but remember you are still a team. Hard case, I know, but you know about what I said with 'challenge.' North shrugged with an entertained smile and so to see he couldn't wait to see when his best agents were having competition with each other.

"And what if we both succeed the case?" Jack asked nonchalantly, while he brushed his fingers over the desk of North.

"Then you both get the promotion, but you'll have to share the profits. It's just meant as a cover, you don't have to marry each other but do need to have the right papers. Now we'll get you two to sign an agreement. Your incomes will be divided and you do have to live together." North said shrugging. Elsa jolted. _Excuse me?_ So, that meant: living with this guy in one house, sleeping in one bed, sharing salary to buy new furniture and other stuff so bye bye new bought shoes and practically being married with the guy for the rest of her life. She already knew she would feel like there was a block chained to her leg. Of course Jack was the block here. Elsa groaned. She didn't want to make a competition from all this, but if she really had to, she would fight for this bloody promotion she'd wanted so bad and for so long, she intentioned.

Jack and her looked at each other in a millisecond, both challenging cocking an eyebrow at each other. They were ready to sweep the floor with each other. It was clear he'd also wanted to get this promotion as badly as her, whatever would happen. "What happens if you 'loose'?" Jack asked business-like, crossing nonchalantly his arms, before moving his head slightly towards her to cock an eyebrow at her.

"Then the other one gets promoted, obviously. But remember, you're colleagues, a team and I still want you two to pretend to be married. So you will still have to work together. It's the perfect cover; no one will ever suspect duo agents living with each other!" North said excitedly, while his eyes glided from Elsa to Jack, especially to Jack who was so to hear from the stories Elsa heard just as wilful and untameable as his messy hair.

"Of course." They said both business-like in unison, but she had the idea none of them meant what they'd said. North shoved papers of their wedding contract forward and gave both of them a pen. Elsa signed begrudgingly the contract so did Jack. "Good. You immediately go in training together. We're about to see how it's going with your qualities when it comes to handling a gun. And maybe if needed some extra defines techniques. The results will be put in our database." North said matter-of-factly. Elsa chuckled when she heard the orders; handling a gun was no problem for her. In the ISA academy she'd beaten everyone with a gun and she wasn't even giving some effort to it.

"Jack has already heard the whole plan, your plane leaves tomorrow at ten A.M. from LAX with the ISA private jet or charter, it depends on the situation in New York and how busy it is on JFK airport." They both nodded in response. "You two will be going to the trainings centre now. I will contact your whereabouts in about a month per Skype." North said business-like, now folding his hands. She and Jack nodded, raised and walked towards the door to leave the room.

They walked after a few minutes together in the corridor towards the modern trainings centre. Elsa had absolutely no clue what to expect from him. All she'd heard about him was that he was good with the ladies and that he'd never failed in his work.

All that could be heard were the footsteps that echoed through the empty corridor. Elsa looked straightforward with an expressionless face, showing no emotion. She saw in the corner of her eye that he stared impassively at her, not being parsimonious with his judge mental look, while having apparently no shame to stare impudently at her. She slightly rolled with her eyes, not giving him the attention he wanted from her. He wanted that she was about to blush, look up, wink back, even a gaze was too much to spend on him in her opinion.

Jack grazed with his tongue over his lips, before parting them to speak. "May I just say you are the perfect combination of sexy and cute?"

Elsa's eyes widened, as they darkened, before she stopped with walking, turned herself towards him and with no warning she pinned him against the wall, grabbed him by the collar of his suit and jerked him towards her causing his upper body to bend over. Their lips were almost touching and Jack's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "Listen Mr. Frost, firstly, I am not your inamorata and I have not the intention of ever becoming one. Secondly did you come here to co-operate with me or to get one-night stand number two hundred with another colleague? And lastly, I take my job very seriously. I do not fool around. I hope you understand that and that we can work on a professional level, if not, then dismiss the case _right now_."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, sweetheart." He smirked, but she saw that the way he reacted he'd not expected this move from her. She ignored him. "So you aren't going to kiss me then…" He spoke reluctantly and a bit off guard. But Elsa didn't think that this, in her eyes, conceited jerk with his self-complacent behaviour ever deserved to touch her, let alone kiss her.

And so she still ignored him, while still looking into the beautiful striking blue eyes that were so mesmerising, but yet also mysterious. She'd hoped to find feelings and a sensitive guy in his blue orbs, since they were like an enigmatic ocean with endless depths. She pulled herself together, shoved the sweet puppy-eye look of him to the back of her head, having the intention to not disturb herself to it. She planted a strict look on her face and cleared her throat before she spoke with a cold hiss.

"You have not answered my question yet; are you here to fool around with me, or here to work on a professional level and co-operate?"

"Okay fine. We co-operate, nothing more." He shrugged smirking, but she really didn't like the devious sparkle in his eyes.

"Good, because if the first of the two options applies, you can now pack your bag, I'll do this thing all by myself and you can forget your precious promotion." She hissed warningly at him with an incisively and deathly penetrating gaze, while making with her fingers a walking gesture, still holding him with her other hand tightly by the collar his suit. She hoped he would back off with acting like she was his inamorata, but it looked this guy wasn't going to stop till _the end of time_.

Jack cleared his throat. "Feisty, I like that. I like it _a_ _lot_." He winked while he looked deeply in her eyes, but she narrowed and shot another deathly stare at him. She let a warning hiss escape her lips, before pushing him back up and then resumed walking, ignoring her attention whore husband.

They arrived at the trainings centre. Every door was locked with a code, so no unwanted guests could visit the building. She tapped the code in and came inside the huge modern trainings centre. It was one of the newest things from the International Security Agency, or shortly ISA. There were all kinds of different departments.

They weren't alone; Elsa's best friend Hiccup was practicing his shooting skills on a dummy and the sound of a shooting gun echoed through the trainings centre. He was wearing a black bulletproof vest above his pastel blue blouse. Hiccup had messy chestnut brown hair and nice green eyes. Elsa always complimented him on his good posture. He had broad shoulders, well formed shoulder blades and she was convinced he looked quite handsome and very muscular. In the back of his hair were tiny little knotted braids, but you almost couldn't see them since they were on the under part of his hair.

Hiccup had lost one leg after a case in London. He and Merida were partners at that time and Hiccup was chasing a guy and this dude had thrown a grenade at him and it had exploded almost right in Hiccup's face. He'd considered himself very lucky that he'd survived and only lost one leg. Merida also got very lucky; she only had a few burns but not major.

How grim it may sound, Merida took his leg with her, hoping there was a possibility that the limp could be stitched back up to his leg, but that was impossible and so they gave him a metal prostheses that started under his knee. North had given him extra bladed prostheses that were built into the construction so he could use them into fights to block off attacks. Hiccup often joked how he now could use his leg to cut off other people's legs. He did a lot of Thai boxing and Taekwondo as he had learned different kicks.

Hiccup wasn't the only one with a bladed prostheses; Gazelle, who went under the alias name 'CGH3, was an other highly trained agent, had lost both of her legs after she tried to disarm someone with a samurai sword when she had a case seven years ago. She was Asian as she'd grown up in Japan her whole life. Her parents had sent her to a special school where she had gotten only English lessons, so she spoke fluently Japanese and English. Thereby, she'd always practiced self defence sports and at her thirteenth, she'd gotten her black belt in Taekwondo, not knowing she could use this later in her life when she was about to get two prostheses for her lost legs. She'd been for two years out of work to train herself back to the top with her new great but most of all deathly assets. And now she used them to disarm people like never before and if you were unlucky, she enabled her blades.

But even though Gazelle seems like a killer babe, she can also be very nice. Although, Elsa and her haven't been a match from moment one, especially ten years ago when she'd floored Elsa and had thrown her against walls, the women both respected each other and had a healthy put severe professional relationship in the workplace.

Elsa grinned at the memory; how she'd ran through the corridors, being chased by Hans and Gazelle. In her memory Hans had been so ruthless to her, but in the end it was all acted. They didn't know if she could be trusted and the ISA was only nice to you if you or were an agent, or bowed down for them, or didn't break into their headquarter. She had done all of them as a sixteen-year-old and she still felt the consequences; there was a strict hierarchy;

Never contradict your boss, respect agents who have worked longer for the ISA than you and competition was excluded. ISA wanted to give their agents a challenge sometimes by putting two agents together in one case, but they didn't do it for competition, no, they wanted their employees to learn teamwork was important, but that you never had to forget who the real enemy was. They sent an agent to a case together with an agent of the opposite gender. Then they had to co-operate, but in the end their apparent CEO wanted to know who solved the case first to get a promotion. It were interesting plights to see and it was one of the newest projects of the ISA. It had been a test project, but now it was an official program where everybody had to participate in. They didn't match-make their agents like in a dating site. The reason they took opposite polars overtime was to trigger competition and make interesting matches. It was done most of all that people could learn from each other and that their bond would get stronger.

"Hey Hiccup!" Elsa greeted him with a bright smile, waving her hand. Hiccup had been her best friend since the ISA academy where you were lead up and since day one they could laugh and talk till they both had tummy pain from all the giggling. He had a sweet personality, was a 'softie' with his compassionate heart that loved people as well animals. He owned a black cat named Toothless that he loved more than himself. If he hadn't become an agent at the ISA, he had the plan of becoming a veterinarian.

He was having a major crush on Astrid Hofferson, also one of Elsa's best friends, who was in her circle of friends which existed out of Merida, Astrid, Hiccup and Elsa, although it looked like Jack slowly came in as well, since he was best friends with Hiccup so officially -and she could also see that on social media- they were mutual friends. -Not that Elsa was too happy with that-.

Astrid sort of hated Hiccup, although that's what she told everyone with a mocking chuckle when they asked what she thought of him, but deep down she did like him. But it was too valour and proud for Astrid's personality to confess it, since she didn't want that her ego was about being touched by this cute softie. No, Astrid was a kickass and you didn't even have to try to mess with this gal.

Hiccup stopped his practicing, lowered his gun and looked up to see who spoke, since he was wearing a headset to protect his ears from the sound of the shots. "Hey Elsa!" He replied smiling, also raising in a swift second his hand and he resumed shooting, so the sound of fired bullets filled the air again.

Elsa and Jack walked further to the advanced part of the trainings centre where more modern techniques were used. Jack followed her and didn't say anything to her relief. Their footsteps echoed through the corridors, their shadows following them on the walls. They entered a simulation cabin in the shape of a square with transparent glass that reached till the high ceiling, while the rest was coloured sterile white. An elevated platform was centred in the middle of the high tech simulator and there was a desk with a huge computer. There was only a keyboard, since the screen of the computer was illuminated by a hologram.

Elsa walked past the table full with all kinds of weapons. She let her hand glide past all the different guns, firearms, as well as knives. She took quite her time until she decided that she had found the perfect one; a typical police gun, Semi-Automat. She grabbed it, loaded the gun with bullets and walked towards the elevated platform.

Jack snickered with mock as his eyes followed her. "Are you sure you can handle that gun?" He asked resolutely, while leaning with his back against the glass wall. He looked at his nails with again that annoying complacent smirk. Elsa intentioned, that if he wouldn't remove it right rather now, that she would slap it off his perfectly disgusting face. She ignored him with a low and heartedly groan and positioned to shoot by raising her gun. She concentrated herself.

He enabled the computer, before she could even answer. He tapped on the hologram air screen and the computer began counting down. It would simulate a shooting with hologram with people who try to hit her. The lights had gone out and it was almost dark, except for the spot where Elsa stood in, on the elevated platform. The computer counted down on its monotone voice, as it was feminine.

''If you need any help, I'm right here." He sang while pointing at himself with a self-complacent smile. Elsa groaned, but kept on staring in front of her to the point where the holograms were going to be projected, still with her gun raised, being utterly concentrated. "Where did you learn to handle a gun?" He asked almost on teasing tone that said 'in Kindergarten didn't you?'. He said it in such a scoffing way that said she couldn't shoot or handle a gun, although he'd never seen her shooting a single bullet so he had no right to judge her neither her skills. Thereby, the guy kept on talking on in this irritated cocky and conceited tone and he knew for God's sake she'd learned to handle a gun in the ISA academy.

JACK

"I think you can't even shoot close to the-" The shots echoed through the hall to cut off his speaking. Elsa dove and jumped, trying to avoid the holograms and bullets. Her blonde hair dove with her, her blue eyes full of concentration and rebellion and her cheeks were a shade of rouge, _dang_. She was shooting like there was no tomorrow.

"…target." He ended smirking with a conceited and cocky tone in it when she was done, while he ran through his messy silvery or how the French called it 'argenté' hair.

The lights turned on again and a hologram with a scoreboard appeared in the air. He looked up and his eyes widened when he looked at her results. He looked at the scoreboard made out of an air hologram, where Elsa's results were to be showed. Elsa smirked complacent. One hundred eighty out of the two hundred points you can get. She'd only missed two holograms and she'd shot the rest. If the holograms were real persons they were _dead_. Jack's eyes widened in dismay when he saw the result, but then he realised he really didn't have to try to mess with her, because she'll shoot him just like that. He'd underrated her badly; he thought she was a Beverly Hills spoiled brat who could only spell the words S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G. He raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms, while he followed her with his mortifying glare, trying to intimidate her, but she acted like she didn't see it.

She cocked an eyebrow at him in her proud and vivacious triumph. "Well, now it's your turn, wonderboy." She spoke, smirking magisterial, while she threw the gun towards him. She walked to the edge of the simulator and leaned with her back against the glass wall of the trainings cabin where they were standing in.

He caught the gun she'd thrown at him with no effort, smirking vivaciously at her with a flawless cock of his eyebrow. He looked at the gun in his hand and then back at her. He loaded it with bullets, since Elsa had shot all ten of them and he looked at her, his expression full with immaculate valour on the way he was going to sweep the floor with her. "Go ahead." She said deviously with an almost fake smarmy smile, but Jack just thought it was nothing more than just cunning. She enabled the computer in the corner of the room and in seconds he heard how it counted down from ten to zero. Jack cleared his throat and positioned himself. He lifted the gun and concentrated himself by closing his eyes, inhaling some air through his nose and exhaled softly through his mouth. He thought he finally had some rest, but then he heard the same teasing and annoying tone of his future wife. "Or are you too scared?" She added singing on a childish tone. He rolled with his eyes.

The computer counted down. Jack's eyes shut open and he saw how the first hologram ran towards him and without thinking he dove to the ground to dodge the hologram bullet and shot the hologram person. There were four others, running towards him, while shooting bullets at him. He lowered the gun and looked at the air hologram that appeared. He smirked victorious. 190 points out of the 200. Elsa's eyes widened in outrage and dismay when she saw his score and madam suddenly didn't look that confident anymore.

"Maybe next time, sweetheart." He smirked pinching her cheek, while he walked towards the table with all the weapons and put the gun back in place.

"Sweetheart has a name." She groaned, averting her gaze from him and rubbing her cheek he'd just pinched. It was clear Princess was upset because he'd beaten her in gun skills_. So hard. _

"Are we jealous that our queen isn't as good as her king?" He smirked deviously, while walking towards her. Elsa still leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

She parted her lips to speak, but Hiccup walked into the glass cabin where they were too and cut oblivious her speaking off. "Hey Elsa, Jack, you're having a case together?" He asked with a smile. Hiccup was befriended with Elsa, and Jack asked himself how he'd ever managed to come socially close to a detached, cold and ruthless serpent like her.

"Unfortunately yes." Elsa sighed, now turning her head towards Hiccup with a ruthless cock of her right eyebrow. Jack cocked an eyebrow at her and he asked himself what the hell wrong was with her. He convinced she suffered from severe PMS.

Hiccup didn't notice the tension between the two as well the taciturn and obnoxious atmosphere; he resumed talking, smiling and laughing like nothing had happened. Sometimes he was a bit too innocent and ignorant. "Cool! Where are you guys going to?" He said enthusiastic, while reloading his gun with bullets that were laying on the table with all kinds of guns they stood next to.

"New York." Jack shrugged.

''Ah New York. Well, with what I've heard from both of you guys, it shouldn't be hard to solve this case. Thereby I've heard from Astrid, and she heard it from Merida, that you two are the favourites of the ISA in LA. If you are lucky, they'll ask you to have a training in the international headquarter in New York and that is like serious shit! Laurence will be there too and if she sees you, I'm sure she'll thaw!'' Hiccup smiled friendly at Jack. Hiccup was such a good person, so nice and friendly. Jack was convinced that if you had problems with him or if you didn't like his personality, you were officially socially impaired.

Jack winked at Elsa, hoping she would indeed thaw. But she was staring deeply into his eyes in like a creepy way. "Have you got something in your eye?!'' Hers were deathly, challenging and full with mock.

"Ehm, excuse me?!" He challenged her, as he took a step forward, lifting his chin to glare down upon her since the agent was practically two heads bigger than she was, but still Elsa didn't take a step back. She lifted her chin to face him with her piercing gaze, not afraid of him at all. She wasn't going to back off that was clear, as well her dominance level kept on being undiminished.

"You keep on winking at me, my friend." She groaned on a bitchy tone, while she showed her valour to him with her immaculate and for him obnoxious cock of her eyebrows. She was ruth- and relentless, that was clear and he liked her less and less with every second that passed.

"I'm not your friend." He groaned back through gritted teeth, cocking with a deathly hiss an eyebrow at her, making rules clear he wasn't a guy to mess with. "And what are you then? Mother of eyebrows?" He fired back at her. Elsa rolled with her eyes and he knew the upcoming eight months with this serpent were officially going to be hell. He really didn't like her and her demeanour.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the two when he saw the scene in front of him. "Well, success, I'll see you two later." Hiccup mumbled, while he turned around to walk out of the trainings cabin, as the automatic glass door slid to the left again so the door was closed and the two agents were alone again.

''Where will we meet tomorrow?" Elsa asked business-like after Hiccup had exited the cabin and seconds later they heard how the shots of Hiccup's gun again echoed through the high tech centre.

"Shall I pick you up?" Jack suggested and a voice in his head groaned he was too good for this world. Elsa nodded, while her tongue grazed for a second over her lips to make them damp, before slightly biting her under lip. She stared bored at her nails. He had the idea that she was a bit standoffish with her body language. "The flight departs at ten A.M, domestic flight, let's say, half past six?" She nodded laconic and it looked like madam wanted to resume improving her gun skills instead of talking to her too-sexy-for-my-shirt husband aka him.

"Okay, well I already know the address." He said with a smarmy smirk.

Elsa frowned. "Where did you get that from?" She asked suspiciously. "It's supposed to be hidden from unwanted visitors."

Jack smirked. "Tooth gave it to me, along with your phone number." He answered nonchalant.

She nodded slowly with crossed arms, while she slightly cocked her head a bit up, tilting for a millisecond flawless an eyebrow at him as she blew a strand of hair out her face. He had to admit it, she was seductive with her long slender legs, size two posture and she had a certain aura surrounding her that made her even more beautiful in his eyes. But sadly she was a cold as ice to him for no apparent reason. Still he was determined to not give up. He didn't need her in bed-although he wouldn't complain if he would manage it-; he just wanted to get this job done with someone who didn't bitch at him all the time.

Jack grabbed his wallet and revealed his business card. "Call me." He winked playful. Elsa rolled with her eyes, noticeably irritated by her future flirty and smarmy husband, but then slightly nodded. Jack smiled, in earnest now. "Good, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Mrs. _Frost_." He teased with a huskily whisper in her ear on the last word, while walking backwards, snapping with his fingers and then pointing at her before he turned around and resumed his walking.

Elsa ignored him, turned around and then walked towards the table to get another firearm. Jack walked out of the trainings centre, as Elsa resumed improving her gun skills.

When he rode his way back home in his black Porsche Cayenne to his penthouse, the agent was lost in thought and question; how he was going to survive the upcoming months with her, was one of them.

He intentioned he just had to wait and see.


	3. Chapter II Welcome to New York

**CHAPTER II: Welcome to New York**

**JACK**

He groaned sleepily when he heard how his alarm went off the next morning. The noise hurt to his ears so he covered them with his pillow as he lie on his stomach. His hand glided from under the warm sheets and he searched with his closed eyes for the alarm clock that stood on his bed stand. His hand searched everywhere, trying to find the alarm clock, but he miserably failed.

"God damn it, where is that fucking snooze button?" He cursed sulking. He threw the pillow off his head to the other empty side of the king size bed, opened his eyes and regretted it immediately; they weren't used to the light that came through the split of the curtains and it felt like his eyes were on fire. He narrowed them as he held his hand in front of his sight, so the light couldn't reach his iris.

Jack pulled himself up, now supporting himself on his elbows and pressed quite aggravated the snooze button in so the horrible thing stopped making its obnoxious noise. He raised and sat down at the edge of his king size bed. He rubbed his eyes as he noticed he hadn't slept well. He hoped that maybe the cold floor could help in waking him up. As he'd forecasted, he awoke when he felt how his warm feet came in contact with the cold floor to give him an unpleasant shiver as the goose bumps arose on his skin.

He looked at his alarm clock that projected the time in its venom green letters. 7:32. A.M. He sighed relaxed as he stretched himself out. His arms then lowered and he looked up when the agent had processed the time. _Half past seven?!_

A skipped heartbeat.

His eyes widened in shock; he had to pick Elsa up in thirty minutes, since seven o'clock had been arranged. He jumped up and walked towards his walk-in closet where all his clothes were perfect ordered. When he bought his luxurious apartment, he'd arranged something with the architect so he got a walk-in closet and here he was, standing in it as a proud owner.

He looked in the mirror that hung at the end of the closet and the fella looked in his reflection. He only wore sweatpants and the man in the mirror ran through his messy hair and looked at his abs. He was happy with how he looked and he wasn't the guy to hide it. He snapped out of his thoughts and remembered he had better things to do; he had to get his ass out of here and get as fast as he could in the car. He grabbed a blouse and his business jacket that which part of his formal suit and put it on. He tied in stress his tie in front of the mirror. An irritated groan escaped his lips, and he threw his tie across the walk-in closet when it was the fifth time he tried to knot his tie but in vain. And finally after seven times, he managed to tie it well.

He walked to another drawer where all his pants lay in, but it was empty. He ran worried through his hair, thinking where his pants could possibly be, while sighing. Then he knew it; he had already packed all of them. All except for one. But he had to iron it, because it was full with creases. He ran half dressed to the ironing table, searched for his pants and began frantically ironing it. After that was done, he put them on -still warm- and walked quickly to the kitchen to have breakfast.

He was living in a penthouse, so he had a beautiful view on Santa Monica Beach every morning when he walked into his luxurious kitchen, because there was a panorama glass wall. Yes, living at Ocean Avenue wasn't a torture. He saw the surfers already racing over the Pacific on their boards, and some joggers passed his apartment complex that stood at the boulevard. Across the luxurious building, if you crossed the road, there was next to the sidewalk a grass field where some people were doing yoga under the palm trees.

There was always one particular woman with blonde hair and brown eyes that stood out to him. She had been there since last year every time at exactly at half past seven doing yoga with the same club of ladies every Saturday morning. They stretched and got in all kind of positions that made Jack wonder if they even were a thing. The blonde was so flexible. And even though she knew everybody had a clear view on her, her flexible body kept on doing its amazing tricks and routines. And she certainly didn't mind to be part of Jack's view. And from his side, not that he complained, seeing her, of course.

Somehow, she and Jack had a good reason to give each other a grin when they saw each other and Jack had the plan to ask her to maybe jog past the boulevard with him if she wanted to.

He saw how the amusement park of Santa Monica was closed, the golden sunbeams colouring the huge Ferris wheel that was now black coloured, since the sun was oncoming for him. He loved the pier and Santa Monica.

When he opened the cupboards to take stock of the amount of food he had, he discovered there was nothing left, but some lettuce; he'd forgotten to go grocery shopping yesterday, but of course he couldn't go to the store anyway, because he had the appointment at the ISA. Besides, he was almost never at home. Thereby he never knew when he got a new case that could send him for months to the other side of the globe so he always bought food for only a few days to reduce food waste.

He quickly grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and walked with it in his hand to the corridor where his suitcase and his computer bag were. He grabbed his coat from the coat stand and his suitcase, plus computer bag, closed the apartment door and took the lift to the ground floor. He walked as fast as he could towards his car, while putting on his fabulous sunglasses and put his hand through his hair to make it livelier.

It was July in LA, so it was as always bloody hot, irrespectively morning or evening, but he was going to stay for sure till New Year in New York when it was winter, so he definitely needed a coat. His loyal black Porsche Cayenne was standing outside the apartment at the side of the road, waiting for him. Even now when he was in a rush, he walked with this certain style that made all the women that passed him make a glance over their shoulders. He noticed that the super hot yoga woman with the blonde hair was doing yoga again, and so he grabbed his sunglasses and pushed them down a bit to get a clearer view of her.

The twenty-six-year-old heartthrob lifted the corners of his mouth to reveal a charming smile. She was in the Cobra pose, her chest pushed forward beautifully, showing him those damn well defined brea- _ahem collarbones_… It seemed like she noticed him looking so she smirked daringly back on a coquettish way, cocking her eyebrow back at him. He winked at her and whistled a tune, pressed on the button of his car keys, so the car made the well-known noise, threw his suitcase plus computer bag in the trunk and closed it.

He stepped into his car, turned the key in the ignition, marched and drove away towards Elsa's villa in Beverly Hills.

Within five minutes he drove onto one of the hundreds of highways of LA as he was lost in thoughts. He illegally joined the carpool lane, since he had no need to be stuck in a pile-up, although he knew he was fucked if the police would catch him. She'd messaged him her address yesterday. He'd hoped on having a conversation with her after she'd messaged, but he got nothing but a shared location.

He knew when he would message her she would ignore him anyway and when she tried to play hard-to-get he could do as well. Jack put Bluetooth on that was connected to his car and phone, searched in his library for Ariana Grande and put 'Break You Heart Right Back' on. Somehow this diva had a golden throat that produced a sound he loved and he liked her album 'My Everything' more than any other. This song fit him perfectly after a certain period in his life he'd just closed and he was determined to never go back at all; he was a free man; he could make his own choices and he chose to move on and let go of his past.

After half an hour driving and mumbling along with her album, he'd arrived at the luxurious quarter. Elsa was already standing outside in front of her mansion with a closed gate behind her, waiting for him with her white with blue chequered Louis Vuitton suitcase and matching purse. ''A lady of luxury I see…'' He noticed as he slightly checked her out. She was dressed in a blue ruffled dress and her hair was in a messy up do. Seems like she went out of bed pretty late too. He grinned and approached her with the car. When he drove upon the gravel path he saw Elsa and as soon they made eye contact, she began to point to her watch, while ticking on it with an irritated expression.

"What?! I'm on time!" He groaned, while looking challenging at her as he threw his hands in the air. He heard how the gravel crackled under his rubber tires. He stopped, turned the engine off, stepped outside the car and closed the car door with a thud.

"You're an hour late." She spoke disapprovingly, while crossing her arms.

"I beg you pardon?" He said confusedly, while leaning with his back against the car, his arms crossed as well.

"You should've been here at half past seven!" She exclaimed irritated, raising her voice, while throwing her hands in the air. Her blue eyes were filled with annoyance. Jack furrowed his eyebrows. 'She has been standing here outside since the alarm clock went off. Seriously? This is fucked up, Jack.' A voice in his head giggled, but Jack demanded it had to shut up.

"You could've called me.'' He groaned in defence.

''I did but you didn't answer me!''

He ran his hands through his hair. ''Yes, I was having eh, trouble." He said quickly, while he leaned with his side against the car, holding his car keys in his hand that rested on the roof of the car. He tried to put on his most irresistible, charming, but most of all, most gentleman smirk he'd ever known on his face. Elsa didn't thaw, no; the serpent shot a cold glare at him.

"By taking the wrong time in thoughts when you had to pick me up and then still sleeping when I'm calling you, because you're too late? Bad habits for an agent." She snorted disapprovingly, while lifting her chin in her dignity.

Jack rolled with his eyes. Deep down he realised she could be right, but these things normally never happened to him. He heard the scoffing chuckle of again a voice in his head and he quickly changed begrudgingly in his thoughts his 'normally' to 'almost never'. He walked towards her suitcase, snapped the suitcase's handle down and threw the bag up with his knee, so he could catch it with his hands and he asked himself if she had put bricks in it.

"This is a designers bag, not a ball you can kick. If it gets scratched or whatever else, you can pay for it okay?" She threatened in outrage since he terrorised _her baby_.

_Sigh._

He stopped, put the suitcase down on the ground again and looked up, eyes narrowed. "But of course Your Highness, it won't happen again Your Highness." He scoffed sarcastically with a British accent, as he smiled fake at her in his scoff. He decided that if she wanted special treatment for her baby, that she could get it. He picked up the bag extremely calm and governed and laid it very slowly with all the gentleness he'd known in the trunk, never averting his challenging gaze from Mrs. Frost. She rolled her eyes.

He stepped in the car at the driver's side and sighed irritated when Elsa kept on staying where she stood. He pressed the window button in, so it lowered. He leaned to her side and spoke. "Can't you open the door by yourself? Oh no wait, princesses don't do that." He scoffed grinning in his mock. He leaned even more to the side to open the door for her side and opened it. He turned the key in the ignition so the car's engine powered on.

Elsa rolled with her eyes again, but stepped in the car. Jack accelerated backwards in a high pace, turned left, still driving backwards like a master, accelerated hard and drove away with squeaky wheels. He smirked as the agent made his way at a high speed through the quarter. She laid a hand on her collarbone, her eyes widening a bit as she got so to see almost a heart attack when she saw him driving so dangerous.

"We're late right? I thought, let's drive as fast as we can to overhaul the time." He joked complacent and innocent, while looking at the pavement in front of him.

"That is scientifically impossible, Frost." She spoke matter-of-factly on a wiseacre tone, before she lifted her chin to cover her fear up.

"Everything is impossible if you believe it hard enough." He spoke serious. Elsa didn't react; she stared at the pavement in front of her with her arms crossed as her bag rested on her lap. He cleared his throat to start talking about another conversation subject. "So, we're flying with the private jet from the ISA if I've heard North correctly."

"Yes, as always." She said business-like. She flipped the flap with the mirror in it above her open, grabbed her bag, revealed her lipstick and put on more make-up, giving him no attention anymore.

_Conversation subject closed._

**Song: Welcome To New York by Taylor Swift**

_(intro)_

He'd actually never talked with her about personal life. "So, how's going in bedroom department?" He grinned deviously, while accelerating. They'd reached the border of the quarter where Elsa was living in. The automatic fence opened and he accelerated again as he drove out of the quarter, driving within seconds onto one of the boisterous highways of LA, joining the carpool lane so he could drive straight to LAX airport. He put the air-conditioning on to cool down from the hot weather. He thought it was just mean that all women wore their flip-flops and dresses in the summer and he was stuck in a hot formal suit.

"Excuse me!?" She exclaimed in shock by the sudden resolute question she'd gotten, while she tucked her red lipstick away in her bag. She roughly moved her head in his direction.

"You know, men." He winked deviously with an innocent shrug.

She slightly pursed her red lips disapprovingly as she spoke on an indignant tone. "If you think I'm the person for one-night stands like all the other women you had the need to hook up with, then sorry, I have to disappoint you." She said bittersweet, while cocking amusedly an eyebrow at him. He laughed as he ran through his hair, steering with one hand now.

She was a devil falling out of heaven.

•

_Walking through a crowd_

_The village is aglow_

_Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats_

_Under coats_

_Everybody here wanted something more_

_Searching for a sound we hadn't heard before_

_And it said_

After they'd flown for six hours high in the sky, they had been sitting in a yellow cab for already forty excruciating long minutes, as the taxi driver drove them to their apartment in Manhattan. They were both tired, had a jetlag and felt miserable after the long and exhausting trip. That was the only thing he didn't like about having this job, so flying from time to time all around the world: the jetlags, bags under your eyes for a week and that you had to get accustomed to everything, your environment and apartment or house.

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

It was silent; he didn't say anything, Elsa didn't say anything and the taxi driver, who was a very nice Hindi, didn't say that much as well. It surprised him; most of the times taxi drivers in New York were always in for a talk. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the roaring engine and the traffic that passed them on a low speed, since the whole stream of people came back from their work so the traffic got into a huge pile-up as usual. New York wasn't better than Los Angeles with its warm summers and huge traffic jams. But still, you couldn't compare these cities; New York and Los Angeles were like sun and moon with culture. The golden sun hung low and was oncoming, so it was hard to see something when he looked at the pavement and it was bloody hot.

_It's a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat, beat_

_Forever more_

_The lights are so bright_

_But they never blind me, me_

Elsa sighed groaning in her impatience and tiredness where the skyline was and that if 'this' was New York, that he could send her with the first plane her back home. Well, he wouldn't do anything with more love. They drove through Brooklyn and they were close to the Hudson River that gave the sight to look at the famous skyline. So far, there was nothing to be seen, but the most normal downtown Brooklyn quarters.

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

He groaned heartedly back she had to wait and see, although it was still intelligible. ''I thought you've been in New York twice, so I don't understand where this sulking comes from." He shot grumpily at her, while his elbow rested on the window to stare bored out of it, looking at the endless traffic jam. He was tired, had a jetlag and he wasn't quivering to spend eight months with her in one apartment at all.

_When we first dropped our bags_

_On apartment floors_

_Took our broken hearts_

_Put them in a drawer_

_Everybody here was someone else before_

_And you can want who you want_

_Boys and boys and girls and girls_

She shot bored something back about that both cases hadn't been in Manhattan, but in Brooklyn and Queens, before she consecutively yawned, still like him staring impassively out of the window. Both weren't looking at each other, since both persons stared with a blank expression out of the window, waiting to be released from this dull drive. "And you've never been in Manhattan?! Shame yourself, Elsa." He groaned back in acted shock. He was convinced the one and only reason that you wanted to go to New York was because of Manhattan and its skyline. She rolled with her eyes and he had the idea it was slowly becoming her habit. He mumbled with gnashed teeth that she was for sure on her period with a soft whistle, but he immediately shut his mouth when he saw the irritated face of his wife.

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

They drove onto West Side highway that bordered to the Hudson River and in seconds the huge impressive skyscrapers appeared, standing proudly like loyal guards on the other side of the lake with a beautiful low sunset on the background. Brooklyn Bridge was on the right side, standing there in all its glory with the American flag on top of it, dancing in the wind. The sky was in all pastel like colours, just like the clouds and he was convinced this couldn't be a better moment to show Mrs. _Wiseacre_ the huge and most beloved skyline of the Unites States of America. Elsa's mouth dropped almost to the floor, while her eyes became the size of saucers when she saw it as she whispered an 'o my God'. "Jack look!" She squealed, while grabbing him by his arm and she pulled him roughly in her enthusiasm to the window so he gulped for a moment when she did a thing called physical contact.

_It's a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat, beat_

_Forever more_

_The lights are so bright_

_But they never blind me, me_

"It's real! It's real!" She squealed, while shaking his arm up and down like an idiot, probably scared that he would _miss_ it... The taxi driver laughed when he saw tourist number thousand who was also very excited about the skyline. New Yorkers don't even look up when they see this sight for the thousandth time, but tourists were always fun to watch for people like taxi drivers when they see new things where the locals don't even bother to look up for.

His arm felt limp when she still shook it and he pulled it roughly back. "Elsa, geez calm down." He hissed irritated, clearly shaming himself for her behaviour. She was acting like a child in his opinion. It's cute-wait a sec; did he just call her _cute_?

_Like any great love_

_It keeps you guessing_

_Like any real love_

_It's ever changing_

_Like any true love_

_It drives you crazy_

The taxi driver gave him a wink in the rear view mirror and Jack smiled sheepishly back. "Is that your wife?" The taxi driver asked curiously, now looking at the couple in the rear view mirror. His Hindi accent predominated his voice. Jack nodded with a soft smile. "You two are a cute couple, very young I see." The taxi driver smiled as he looked once more at them in his rear view mirror. Elsa smiled strained back while nodding stiffly.

_But you know you wouldn't change Anything, anything, anything…_

He mumbled something about someone's true nature as he luckily saw in the corner of his eye she didn't hear him.

She may be beautiful on the outside, gorgeous actually, but she's a real cathead from the inside and the thing that irritated him, was that he didn't know why.

•

**ELSA**

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

Forty minutes later they arrived at their apartment in Manhattan, close to the Upper East Side. Elsa had the idea she looked like a complete zombie with these bags under her eyes. The time difference was killing her and she hadn't slept when they'd flown to New York.

_Welcome to New York_

_It's been waiting for you_

_Welcome to New York_

_Welcome to New York_

When they paid the taxi driver and grabbed their bags plus belongings, they walked towards the door of the apartment building. She saw the reflection of her and Jack in the transparent glass, as they walked to it. Weird to see them like that: walking side-by-side, so close. She turned her head towards him, but Jack didn't look back; he just stared with a blank, cold but most of all with an unwritten expression forward, not even giving her a glance. He was probably tired as well.

_It's a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat_

_The lights are so bright, but they never blind me (Welcome to New York)_

_New soundtrack (it's been waiting for you)_

Jack opened the glass door for her that led to the lobby. He groaned heartedly a 'ladies first', while redirecting with his hand inside. She put on a fake smile, while grabbing her Louis Vuitton bag and walked inside with Jack following her.

_The lights are so bright, but they never blind me (welcome to New York)_

_So bright they never blind me (it's been waiting for you)_

They entered a lobby. She looked around and saw that this was exactly what she liked. Elsa was too tired to even notice the luxury in the room. She felt her fatigue and plopped down on one of the comfortable couches in front of her. She saw a few magazines laying on the glass coffee table in front of her and began bored flipping the pages, while Jack walked to the reception to get the key of their apartment.

_'Mr. and Mrs. Frost?' _She heard.

_Welcome to New York._

_Welcome to New York_

She now realised she would be Mrs. Frost for the upcoming eight months. She felt a slight headache coming up. The whole trip, the jetlag, her sudden surname change, she was convinced it was hell and confusing. Jack called her sooner yet later. She raised in her reluctance and walked into the lift. He was actually nice to her for once and helped her with her bags. Jack pressed the button of floor fifty-three and the elevator doors closed soundly.

_(End__ of song)_

"Have you ever co-operated in a case before?" She asked curiously, opening a new conversation topic.

"Twice." He shrugged apathetic, while revealing his phone. It irritated her that he grabbed his phone in her presence when she was talking to him.

"I'm interested in your experiences." She said, trying to get some more information out of him.

He answered in such concision that she hated. "Women are always a different than men of course." He snickered. "How about you?" He asked back, finally paying attention to her by not staring at his phone screen again.

"Me? I've always done cases on my own, I don't know otherwise." She spoke self-employed.

The lift _pinged_ and they walked towards their apartment. Jack opened the white wooden front door and they walked together into it. He switched the light on.

Elsa whispered in astonishment a 'my god' and looked around.

The apartment had a beautiful sight on Central Park and she'd never seen such a beautiful apartment. She saw in the corner a modern kitchen with a cooking island, provided with the newest stuff. She looked to the right. She saw a chimney, with above it an HD television. In front of the chimney was standing a coffee table made out of glass with a couch in front of it. It was totally different than her mansion, but actually she loved it. North had always given her the most expensive apartments. -not that she complained-. Laurence Lefèvre was convinced that if an agent delivered good work, that they also deserved a good apartment. Apparently in her dictionary 'good' stood for 'splendid' and 'expensive'. Once again, not that she mind.

"So this is where we are going to live for the next eight months." He spoke laconic.

Elsa had the propensity to roll with her eyes. She walked through the apartment, since she looked for a bedroom. In seconds she found it. She switched the lights on. It was a king size bed with beautiful blue and brown decorative pillows in all sorts and sizes. Then she realised they had to sleep in one bed as well and now _that_ was something she hadn't thought of yet. Elsa shook her head, focusing back on the room.

There was a window on the left side of the room. She looked outside and saw the impressive skyline of Manhattan. Maybe it wasn't a torture to live here for eight months. Elsa put her bag on the king size bed. Jack walked into the bedroom and sat down at the end, facing her.

"So, and this is my bed then." She said with a fake smile, acting innocent.

"Eh your bed? Sweetheart, this is _our_ bed." He said matter-of-factly, now showing more dominance. He threw his suitcase on the chair next to it and fell flat on his back on the huge bed. "Yeah, this is a great bed." He sighed satisfied.

She cocked resolutely an eyebrow at him, now laying sassily one hand on her hip. Her expression was suspicious on a way that she didn't understood why he said 'our'. ''There is only one bed in this apartment, so this is our bed. I'm not planning to lay on the couch for eight months." He said, accepting no discussion.

"I'm not going to sleep in one bed with you." She said stubborn and willful, now crossing demonstratively her arms.

"Elsa, my love, I ask you friendly, please do tell me why." He spoke bittersweet. He got up from the bed and walked towards her. She took a step backwards, but he immediately took one step forward. He was standing very close upon her.

"M-Matter of principles." She stammered quickly. He was only five centimetres away of her face.

"I'm interested in what 'matter of principles' means." He spoke with fake interest, while he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"I don't sleep with men who I don't know." She said boldly but also arrogant at the same time, now lifting proudly her chin.

"Saint." He groaned. He turned around and walked to the other side of the bed.

"You can sleep on the couch." She ordered dominantly, crossing her arms. He looked up and spoke huskily.

"I see you're dominant in bedroom department. I like that." Elsa grabbed her pillow in her dismay and outrage and threw it at his head. Jack was already unpacking and he bended over his suitcase, but he didn't even look up and he caught it with no effort. ''I'm not going to back off, I sleep in this bed if you want to or not, Elsa." He said sharply, looking up. Elsa averted her gaze and didn't move. "And I mean it." He added magisterial as he slightly raised his voice.

She ignored him. She grabbed her suitcase, zipped it open and began unpacking it.

Jack put his computer bag on his suitcase, zipped it open and revealed his MacBook. He gently picked it up, walked to the desk in the corner of the bedroom and placed it gently on the wooden table. He probably saw her stare and he winked at her. Again. She didn't know what to do to her annoyance, so she just rolled with her eyes, hoping he would finally get the signal and just stop winking that made him look like a first class fuckboy in her opinion. Jack walked back to the bed and resumed unpacking.

She also resumed unpacking. She picked up her bras and laid them in the closet. She felt how Jack's gaze was stinging in her back, following every move she made and looking at them, but she acted like she didn't see it. She had the idea she had to give up her whole private life the upcoming eight months and it was one of the many things she didn't like. She grabbed a pair of high heels out of her bag and put them on the ground, perfectly ranked. She grabbed another pair out of it, and another and another.

Pair after pair came out of her bag.

Jack looked up from unpacking and was-when she saw his face- clearly impressed. He groaned something about how many high heels a person could possibly have as he slightly shook his head. He bended himself over his suitcase again and resumed unpacking. She looked in his striking blue eyes, full of mischief.

She ignored him and kept undisturbed putting her babies carefully on the floor on a perfect row. She loved them so much. She had the idea she could almost cry out of happiness when she was done and saw them standing like in the army perfectly in a row: perfection. Jack unpacked his suits, placed them on the clothes hanger and carefully put them in the closet. And from his side, suit, after suit came out of his suitcase. ''How many suits can a person have?" She imitated.

He looked up and smirked. "The ladies adore it."

"Why do you have to be such a flirt?" She spoke aggravated, while throwing one of her dresses on their bed in irritation. She was done with his 'gentleman' behaviour and this was only day one out of the approximately two hundred-forty.

"And why do you have to be so stubborn and willful?" He snapped back, cocking an eyebrow at her. The two stood across from each other, Jack on one side of the bed and Elsa on the other side. Elsa stopped with what she was doing; shot a mortifying glare at him, before she walked out of the bedroom. "What are you going to do?" He yelled after her in in distinction.

"Making dinner." She groaned back on a concise way. She didn't want to have him in her presence.

Not now.

•

They were having dinner. After realising there was no food, she'd done the groceries, made dinner and now forty-five minutes later, they were eating. It was silent and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of cutlery scraping on the plates. The atmosphere was nerving as well obnoxious and both of them felt it. He complimented the food, before sipping from some of his white wine. She looked up as she asked herself if it had been dauntless sarcasm. She clenched her fist around the knife that she held in her hand. Her knuckles turned white by the pressure she clenched her fist.

**JACK**

Jack looked at her knuckles in the corner of his eye, being aware that she held the knife tightly in her hands. A bit tightly for her being. "That's not for toying, babe." He said quickly as he whistled for a slight second, making her aware of that she was playing with fire.

"I've had a training throwing knifes and I'm not afraid to change from theory into practice." She groaned menacing through gritted teeth.

•

**FLASHBACK**

He walked towards the trainings centre for a training. Every month everybody got one so they could specialise themselves into some particular thing. That could be shooting with guns, archery, samurai sword fighting, throwing knifes, free running and so on. Laurence, head of the ISA, thought it was needed to keep learning and improving yourself to expand her agents' kills to a higher level to stay on top of all agencies.

They had one rival; the WHPA aka World Human Protection Agency and if you worked for them, you were the enemy. The WHPA existed longer than the ISA and till twenty years ago, they were convinced that this work was only destined for men and not women, to the ISA's dismay who was in for equal rights when it came to women and men.

They liked it to steal new ideas of the ISA and if you were officially an outcast if you had contact with that traitors agency that existed out of, in the agent's opinion, nothing more, but treacherous rats.

WHPA had always been the number one, but then Laurence entered this criminal world and conquered with her Dalmatian the entire business to change tides and since then the ISA had been on top of the world. He was proud to call Laurence his boss and CEO of all CEOs; she was the splendid example of Parisian perfection with her closet that was bigger than his house, her beautiful slender dog, Zara, and she just had the whole aura hanging around her small being. -Laurence wasn't that tall, that was why she always wore high plateau heels- She radiated power and almost nobility and the agent had high reverence for her.

He snapped out his thoughts and mused which training he'd chosen. He then remembered he'd chosen throwing knifes this time. He didn't know when he could use it and he didn't have something different to choose. He didn't really care about the whole 'samurai' thing, archery wasn't his thing and the agent asked himself when you could use it for fuck's sake. He was a master at handling a gun since back in the ISA academy he'd beaten everybody with no effort and he'd practiced free running since he was fourteen. That was why he had abs; he'd always trained.

He'd chosen to wear a formal suit, since it was just throwing knifes in his opinion with the 'emphasise' on just, because 'how hard could it be?' He arrived at the trainings centre. He tapped the code in that opened the glass door on a hologram screen, so the high tech glass door slid away and he walked down the hallway that led to the big hall where he would get his training.

He walked past the different departments as he made his way to his training. Some were already beginning. He saw Merida, his best friend and an other man doing archery. When he walked further, he saw Mulan, a good Asian friend of him, and another man practicing samurai. He walked further and saw how Hiccup improved his gun skills in the shooting department with Astrid in a high tech cabin.

He arrived inside the department where his training was given. There were six other colleagues, but none of them had a familiar face for the twenty-six-year-old. They were working in another department. The fella looked up when he recognised that Elsa. He'd seen her at a staff party approximately a month ago. He snickered with the thought of her handling guns and knives; in his eyes she was just a glam Beverly Hills woman on stilettos with Dior sunglasses and he asked himself what on earth she did here and why she was chosen to become an agent for the ISA.

"Welcome, I am Aster and today you are going to learn how to throw," Jack heard a voice and he saw how a guy threw a knife across the room. The deathly weapon was being smashed just past his face as he tried not to startle, since if he had stood a centimetre more to the left, it had hit him. "…knives." He ended and Jack saw in the corner of his eye how the knife had cut an electrical cord through, so it snapped and one light turned off in the trainings hall. He looked at the man that spoke. He was probably more than two metres high, was muscular built, had broad shoulders, was about twenty-five years old and to hear his accent he came from Australia. De ISA was international, so his teachers were too.

All the other people stood in a circle around that Aster, some crossing their arms. Jack snorted a bit, watching his teacher penetratingly with a tilted chin. "Let's start immediately. Do you see that dummy over there?" Jack looked at it and frankly, it looked quite human to him. Some people nodded silently, while everybody stared at the dummy.

"Watch and learn." Aster spoke heartedly, his eyes darkening, while he walked over to the table with all sorts of knives, picked one that was about eighteen centimetres long, walked back until he was at about seven meters away from the dummy, positioned himself and in one _SLAM_ he threw the knife. It hit it right in its shoulder.

Everybody looked amused as well impressed even that Elsa, where he'd heard all those stories from for all what she was capable of and what she'd done. If he heard it well she was North's favourite among with him. He didn't know her that well of course; he'd only seen her once, but somehow he knew she wasn't quickly impressed.

"It's very important to concentrate yourself. Now, I think we should just practice some. Who wants to try?" Aster said matter-of-factly while he grabbed the knife out of the dummy, pulling his arm back. Jack raised his hand with a devious smirk, apparently not scared of a challenge. He saw how all the women were staring at him. He gave a quick wink at that attractive Elsa, since she was the only one to remain cold. "Good. Now tell me your name." Aster demanded, his green eyes penetrating.

"Jack Frost." He spoke complacent with a grin.

"Good Jack, grab a knife and throw it."

Jack walked towards the table with all sorts of knives on it. He took a fifteen centimetre long knife with a sharp edge, walked towards the dummy until he was at a distance from it at like seven meters, just like Aster, and he concentrated himself. He looked at the dummy in front of him. He raised his free arm to navigate to the direction he wanted to throw at and in one second he threw it as hard as he could, so the knife was thrown across the room. A shimmer stung in his eye as he was blinded for a second when the knife passed a sunbeam that shone through the high glass roof.

He'd never done this before, although it hit the doll into its arm. Jack smirked. Everyone clapped, except for Elsa who lifted slightly her chin, her blue eyes remaining cold as she stared impassively at him, slightly narrowing her eyes. He groaned a bit while he accepted she was all Ice Queen now, not thawing at all for his flirts.

"Good for the first time, but you and I know you can do better.'' Aster complained with a compassionate cocky smirk as patted him on his shoulder. Jack rolled with his eyes when his teacher was standing towards him with his back, and some other colleagues giggled in response. ''And that's why I'm going to learn you another technique, but first I'd like to see more people.''

''Who's next?" He said with his Australian accent.

That Elsa raised her hand. Jack had to restrain a snicker. He smirked flirty at her. Elsa glared deathly back, now narrowing her eyes for some reason at him. He asked where this hate was coming from; he'd never done anything to her as far as he knew. The agent walked back towards the table and laid the knife back in place. Now Elsa walked towards the table and grabbed a knife. Jack crossed his arms and watched closely with a smirk from ear to ear how Elsa positioned herself, raised the knife and navigated with her free arm where she was aiming to throw to. It was silent; you could hear a pin drop. Jack raised an eyebrow when she didn't do anything anymore, and he asked himself if she was still planning on going to throw.

"Hey sweetheart, today please." Aster spoke aggravated, impatiently waiting while crossing his arms. Elsa ignored him as Jack saw she narrowed her eyes, although she didn't look at him Jack could see it was meant for their trainer. She was concentrating herself and didn't want to be disturbed, that was clear.

Jack began to interfere himself with it. He walked towards her, laid his hand on her shoulder while whispering deviously in her ear. "If you are too…" _WHAM_. She threw the knife with all the strength she had. "…afraid." He ended in a whistle as he wore an amused face.

He looked up and he could only think of 'what the fuck?!'; the eighteen centimetre knife hit the dummy in the chest and had impaled it. If that dummy had a heart and was human it would've been killed, or seriously injured... She'd hit it like a pro. Everyone clapped while Jack could only raise an eyebrow in amusement.

But he knew now for sure that she was not someone to mess with.

**END FLASHBACK**


	4. Chapter III the first night

**CHAPTER III: The first night**

**ELSA**

That evening Elsa was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching the news on the CNN channel with her hands wrapped around a warm cup of jasmine tea. A woman with black hair and a bit of a tan skin colour was speaking. She looked to the under part of the screen to see the name which was about to be revealed under in the screen. Pocahontas Wild.

"_Good evening_." Pocahontas said smiling, while looking in the camera. She wore a sand coloured ruffled dress and beautiful beaded ear hangers that reminded her of the Native Americans hang in her ear.

"_The School of American Ballet, one of the best ballet dance academies in New York are searching for new talent with high potential who could join them in a tour with the company. The tour will be going through the United States and will be ending in San Francisco! Live from New York in front of the School of American Ballet is our reporter John here to tell us more about this_." Pocahontas turned herself to the screen behind her in the studio where you could see a live shot. A handsome man with blonde hair, also known as John, stood in front of the School of American Ballet. He held a microphone in his hand as the well-known fabric with the red CNN mark covered it.

John waited a few seconds before speaking, since the live connection was a bit bad. You could see he listened and looked at the ground, but then turned his face to the camera, and the fella spoke with a charming smile. "_Yes, live from New York here! Well there was a rumour that they are not only looking for people who could join them in their tour, because if they are, they will be accepted on the Academy! And not to mention that they will get a full paid scholarship for university!_" John said smiling.

Elsa raised amusedly an eyebrow when she heard the news, as she sipped some of her hot tea. So they were looking for young talent who could do some ballet.

"_You mean they are looking for teenagers?_" Pocahontas, the newsreader asked, while she still looked at the screen behind her.

"_Yes, they are looking for teenagers. They are looking for teens from fourteen to eighteen that have talent. American School of Ballet will be going to a lot of dance schools to judge the young talents in their auditions. They will be visiting other dance schools as well in other States, but it will be mostly New York_." John said.

"_Very good, well on to our next news,_" Pocahontas turned herself again to the camera, and folded her hands. _''If the sources have to be believed, Pitch Black, the infamous criminal who has been charged for blackmailing, murder, and scams is presumably in the United States. The Brit is still fugitive and the American as well the British authorities are searching for him. The criminal has moved in his teen years to the U.S., before he moved at his seventeenth back to the United Kingdom where he stayed for eight years to then come back to the U.S. again in 2004. In 2004 a tragic shooting occurred in San Francisco that was presumably committed by Black, but evidence is excluded. The reason why he is constantly moving back and forth from the U.S. and the U.K., is a thing the experts can't explain. After the shooting in 2004, the thirty-eight-year-old man has been obtrusively silent with committing crimes and he has now been hiding for eleven years already, but several actual reports say he's back in the U.S. The police is on a battue for the criminal-._''

Elsa turned the TV off, not having the need to see a whole boring video of a journalist who was about to give her old news that the ISA already knew. She yawned. Even though it was later in New York than in LA, she felt the fatigue after the flight to the Big Apple and as well all the things she had seen were really impressive, like the skyscrapers and the skyline.

It was only half past nine, but she decided to head to bed. She walked to the bedroom, while she ran through her messy blonde hair. She entered the master bedroom by jerking the door open, so it slammed against the opposite wall, but she didn't care. She actually immediately wanted to throw her clothes off and smash herself on the bed and to fall asleep like Sleeping Beauty and sleep for one hundred years, but to her surprise, Jack was laying on the bed, apparently reading and that was a thing she hadn't expected at all.

She cleared her throat that he had to look up. ''Out of the room, now.'' She spoke authoritative. "And no shoes on my bed." She added dominantly, before pointing at his feet. She still hadn't forgotten the quarrel between them when they ate dinner.

Jack looked up from reading and he blinked a few time with his eyes, before he ran through his hair and frowned. "Sorry what, _your_ bed?" He asked challenging, while laying the book at his bed stand, before consecutively stretching himself out with a low groan that was almost lion-like.

"I am going to undress myself and change into my sleepwear, so I want you to move to the living room."

Jack raised suspiciously an eyebrow. "Why? Elsa we live the upcoming eight months together! Come on, we trust each other right?" He spoke while he wore a smirk that was too big for his face. It remained silent and an awkward atmosphere was hanging in the air. She cocked an eyebrow at him, while looking disapproving at him from head to toe and she cleared awkwardly her throat.

Jack cocked an eyebrow back at her, while he looked with a blank expression at her. ''_Ouch_." He said matter-of-factly, while laying his hand on his chest. He made another attempt. "We're married." He said cunningly with an innocent smile.

Elsa cocked an eyebrow at him with a mortifying glare, making clear she wasn't thinking the same about the situation. She crossed her arms as she stood in front of the end of the bed, while Jack still lay on it with one leg crossed over the other. He looked for a second bored at his nails, making clear he wasn't intimidated by her 'bad girl' behaviour. It remained silent for a few seconds, until Mr. Frost opened his mouth to speak. "Come on Elsa! We're not teenagers who are going to yell if a boy sees you changing! What do you want, that I turn around and don't peek? How mature." He spoke irritated, now taking her habit over by rolling with his eyes.

"No, what I want is that you get out of the room and give me my privacy, is that too much asked?" She said stubborn and willful.

"But I am your husband." He said cheekily, now crossing his arms, while he lifted one side of his mouth to reveal a devious smirk.

"Dude no, get out." She complained sulking, as she walked to the bed and she pulled him off the bed by grabbing him by his wrist.

He tried to do another attempt, but she immediately interrupted him like a mother who had to tell her six-year-old son what rules were. "I'm not an animal in a zoo where you can stare impudently at." She groaned through gritted teeth on a warning-like tone, before pointing a finger at him. She grabbed him by his wrist before she pulled him to the door.

But he again wailed and whined, trying to make him stay and now the inner mother of Elsa came to the surface; "Do you want me to pull you to the door while I grab your ear?!" She warned him on a motherly tone.

Jack raised very slowly one eyebrow, while looking with an expressionless face at her. "Eh, no thank you." He answered matter-of-factly, but he didn't move. Without a warning she grabbed him by his ear and pulled him to the door. "_Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch._" He cringed with every step he took on a wailing tone as Elsa still pulled him to the door with a black expression on her face. She intentioned that who won't listen will _feel_. She jerked him out of the bedroom so he stumbled and almost fell. Just when Jack turned around and wanted to walk into the room again, she jerked the door right into his face and turned around.

Elsa sighed. She grabbed her Louis Vuitton bag and revealed the weapon she always carried with her and laid it in the drawer of her bed stand. She moved her hand to her back to unzip her dress, but she couldn't reach it. She was walking circles around her axis. She felt how her wrist hurt from the turns she made with it, trying to unzip her dress but in vain. A groan escaped her lips. Finally she managed to unzip the dress, so her back was bare. She threw the dress off and changed herself in a black spaghetti strap nightgown that ended just above her knees and tied her hair in a messy braid. When she was done she yelled his name he could come.

"_Are you decent? I mean you aren't naked or something?"_ He asked almost suspiciously. So to hear he stood at the other side of the door that bordered to the living- and bedroom.

"No I'm naked…" She said sarcastically.

It remained silent for a few seconds, but he then spoke. "Eh Elsa, are you kidding-"

"No! Of course not and why would I call you then?" The door opened and Jack walked in as she quickly glided under the covers. They smelled different than her own sheets. Normally, you have that particular scent in your bed and when you smell it you know you are home, safe. Also, she was convinced her sheets were softer.

Without a warning, he apathetically threw off the jacket of his suit, before throwing it to the chair in the corner of the room. He was standing in front of her with still his blouse on. He unbuttoned it, so a part of his stomach was to be seen.

Elsa's mouth dropped almost to the floor when she saw this guy had abs! Her eyes trailed down them in amazement. She could only stare and she realised the rumours were indeed true: he definitely had abs. Astrid had told her. How does she know? She was only one of all the women from the ISA he has had a one-night stand with. She now realised she was impudently staring at him the whole time; she could mentally slap herself. Jack smirked devious at her.

Elsa immediately averted her gaze. "Get some decency; has your mother never taught you to not throw your clothes off like a flasher? By the way, I have no need to see your abs." She said quickly, but she was only saying that to assure herself. She was lying and she felt that, since she blushed.

"I don't think I care, sweetheart." He shrugged apathetical and cockily on an egocentric way, while he now threw off his blouse. She saw in the corner of her eye how he only wore his trousers. She had to contain herself, not to keep on staring at him and his posture.

Elsa glared at him in the corner of her eye. "Thereby, that you have a problem with that no one is allowed to see you changing, I don't care if someone sees me like this; look, I just throw off my pants." He smirked, while he put on some sweatpants. He switched the light off, so only his bed stand light was on. The dim light shone down upon her as she shifted over the mattress, under the sheets until they were pulled up to her nose. Elsa groaned. She lay down and soon she felt how he stepped into the bed and lay next to her. She felt tension between them. She still hadn't forgotten the quarrel between her and Jack this day.

"And woe if you try to touch me with one finger." She spoke warning, making that clear.

"I wouldn't dare to, princess." He said bittersweet, while rolling with his eyes. He was adjusting the pillow under his head to sleep in a comfortable way. Jack raised, so he supported himself on his elbows and turned off the light. He then immediately lay down. It was silent. Elsa closed her eyes and concentrated herself that she had to go to sleep. She felt so weird, knowing that a man was laying next to her like this. Then she raised and supported herself upon her elbows.

"Have you set the time for the alarm for tomorrow?" He growled quickly a 'yes' in answer as he was laying motionless on the mattress.

Elsa lay down again. She felt a cold airflow piercing through the sheets. "Jack, you have more sheets than I."

Jack groaned and threw all his sheets to her. "Here, we don't want our queen to be cold, huh?" He said sarcastically.

Elsa ignored him and closed her eyes again. She couldn't resist it to raise again. "And woe if you try to touch me with one-"

"Yes Elsa!" He snapped irritated at her. Elsa lay down again, but in seconds she immediately raised. "Elsa what?" He murmured irritated.

"Listen." It remained silent. He didn't react, or move, no, he just ignored her. "Jack, turn the bed stand light on please, I'd like to look into someone's eyes if I talk to someone." He sighed begrudgingly, raised and turned the bed stand light on. As soon as she could see something, she saw a shirtless Jack Frost, supporting himself on his elbows, while he looked with a never averting death glare at her. If looks could kill she was dead. "Listen, there are going to be rules in the bedroom." Jack groaned an 'oh God, there it comes', but Elsa resumed undisturbed. "This here," She pointed to where she lay. "Is my side of the bed, that is where I lie. That there," And she pointed to where he lay, "Is your side of the bed and that is were you lie." Jack rolled with his eyes, but Elsa didn't care and again resumed with a fake smile. "If you are laying on my side of the bed, you have serious problems, understood?" Elsa warned him almost bitchy.

He mumbled something about giving someone a good night rest and Elsa groaned, because he didn't pay attention to what she'd said. "And this is one of the thousand reasons why I'm not married." He groaned, as he had his eyes closed again, the handsome fella laying on his back.

"What?" Elsa asked confusedly.

"The reason is laying next to me." He groaned, while he looked for a second with a mortifying glare at her, before he switched aggravated the light off.

**JACK**

He was irritating himself so much to Elsa's behaviour. He asked himself if she couldn't just shut her mouth for once and go asleep for fuck's sake. He sighed and closed his eyes. He thought she'd finally stopped, until he felt she raised again. She began moving and starting to do things he couldn't explain. He felt how she grabbed things and how the bed screeched because she moved so much as she panted slightly. The twenty-six-year-old had no idea what to expect when he was about to turn the light on. For the third time that evening he turned on the light. He saw an Elsa, her knees standing on the mattress as the cushions that first lay on their bed surrounded her.

She was making a boarder of cushions as a Berlin Wall so the bed was split up in two. He was convinced she was kidding him and that she was behaving like a six-year-old. Jack almost he the idea they were close to a divorce on the way they behaved. He rolled with his eyes so far into the back of his head that he was sure he could see what was behind him.

He wasn't even reacting anymore. He groaned, rolled-he hoped- for the last time with his eyes that evening and turned off the light with a heavy sigh.

"Jack?"

"What?" He had to restrain himself from not yelling.

"Goodnight." She snickered.

"Goodnight." He mumbled back, half groaning. He turned himself with his back towards her, and he finally managed to fall asleep.

If there existed something like a divorce for fake marriages, he wouldn't hesitate a single second to sign the contract and be redeemed from her.

For once and for fucking all.

The next morning he awoke by the sunbeam that shone through the split of the curtains. He groaned and turned around, so he now lay on the other side of his side of the bed. He slowly opened his eyes as he looked against a Berlin Wall of pillows. He groaned and pulled them aside. Somebody was laying next to him. The figure had platinum blonde hair, a beautiful posture and she had a little bit of cleavage, because she was laying on her side. He narrowed his eyes to see who it was. His eyes widened in shock when he saw that Elsa was laying next to him.

In his half being awake and asleep he couldn't recognise the bedroom and the fact that this beauty was laying next to him could only mean one thing. He tried to get memories back of yesterday night, but it was one black hole. No blue eyes, no naked bodies in his memory, nothing. Still, he didn't understand where he was. Yesterday night he had awoken three times, because of the loud sirens and it looked like he was in New York. He frowned in in distinction, asked himself why the fuck he would be in New York and if he really just didn't have sex. He asked himself as well if he maybe had some thing called amnesia, so he lifted the sheets to see if he wore any clothes to begin with. He a let them drop when he saw he still wore his sweatpants.

Then he realised he indeed was in the Big Apple and that this was the sight was about to get the upcoming eight months: the sight of his sleeping wife. He could finally look at her without getting a cold glare from her, so he took his chance. She was sleeping like a rose, laying on her side, her platinum blonde hair that cascaded down in curls was spread out over her pillow. She lay there, so peaceful and he was convinced she was officially cute.

And now_ that_ was a first.

He turned around and looked at the alarm clock and he saw how the venom green letters illuminated the time. _6:48 A.M_. The alarm clock went off in about ten minutes, so he could wake up undisturbed and slowly. He had to find a plan to get that damned promotion. He thought and thought, but he wasn't able to think of making a master plan.

Elsa moved herself in her sleep towards him. "Sweetheart, you are laying on my side of the bed now." He smirked devious, but Elsa didn't react. She smiled softly somehow. He startled when he felt how her hand trailed down his abs, but then suddenly grabbed his hand. A shiver ran down his spine from her touch. Her hands were too soft for a normal human being in the agent's opinion. He felt a certain electricity between them. He hadn't felt this feeling in a long time.

He whispered through gritted teeth if she was awake, hoping she was playing games, but she didn't react. She mumbled something. He moved himself towards her and bended to hear what she mumbled. It was like she whispered 'Dylan'. "Ehm, I'm Jack." He said matter-of-factly.

"Don't leave me, I didn't want to lie." She whispered so soft it was almost inaudible.

''Aw how cute! You're talking in your sleep.'' He whispered as he awed softly, stroking her cheek for a moment. Then he began to talk back and he asked about what she didn't want to lie, since he wanted to let her talk about her past.

"That I'm working for the ISA." She whispered and he asked himself if she had just quit a relationship. Jack asked how he looked and to his surprise, Elsa talked back! "Brown hair, deep blue eyes, perfect body." She sighed dreamily, while she wanted to turn around in her sleep, but Jack stopped her by grabbing her shoulders and he pinned her against the mattress. Without thinking he sat down on top of her, with one knee on the left side of her waist and one leg on the other one. He still laid his hands on her shoulder, so he pinned her against the mattress. He bended down, so he could hear her speak.

"Perfect body? Huh, in which way?" He scoffed in his curiosity.

"Abs, he's just very beautiful and cute." Jack had to conceal himself from laughing out loud. She again laid her hand on his abs. Jack cleared awkwardly his throat as he raised coldly an eyebrow, but she didn't get the message and again trailed down his abs with her hand. He gulped when she came closer and closer to his manhood, so he quickly pulled her hand away. He had to admit that she had got some balls.

"For how long were you guys in a relationship?"

"One and a half year." She whispered. 'One and a half?!' He was convinced that that relationship was just _made_ to fail; geez, one and a half year and already engaged was in his eyes just insane. He realised this was just too simple; he thought he had to give her some alcohol, so she would become tipsy and a bit looser in talking, but if he only had to ask her some things in her sleep.

"Tell me his age."

"He's thirty-eight." She answered as she sighed a bit.

Jack whistled. "Eleven years older than you, that's a no-go, honey." He smirked teasing. He knew it was very normal to have a relationship with someone who was older than you, but he was just teasing her. He got an idea, since he could ask her everything now, so also about private life. A devious grin appeared on his face.

"How was it in the bedroom department between you two?"

"We were never together. I was always working and he as well." She said and she now did manage to turn around on her right side, so he almost fell of the bed. He pushed himself off the mattress, made a turn to the left, and rolled to his side. He never knew he could use his free running skills for dodging a sleeping Elsa.

He crawled towards her again and bowed over her. He rested his head on her shoulder. "Hey, but if you were eh together? Tell me how he was."

"Dylan was good." 'Good? Just good? Jesus if that's the word you have to describe your relationship when it comes to bedroom department. So that was obviously boring as fuck.' A voice in his head commented. 'ha ha Jack, get the 'as fuck'?' the voice laughed about his own silly joke, but Jack mentally placed a hand upon the mouth of the voice so it would shut up. He now did understand why that relation failed. No wonder if it was drop-dead boring in the bedroom.

"Must be quite an idiot to break up with a _sweetie_ like you.'' He spoke a bit too sarcastic. ''But hey, why did he break up?''

"He found out that I was lying to him about everything. Work, life, why I couldn't be with him and why I was always gone." He was convinced this wasn't the information he was looking for. He decided to ask further. "And what do you think about...Jack?"

"Jack? Oh he is-" The alarm clock went off. Elsa's eyes widened and she raised in half panic. Jack didn't know how fast he had to lay down, close his eyes and pretend like he also just woke up by the glaring sound, but he had the idea it was too late. "What's the time and where do we have to go to?" Elsa asked, while she yawned and stretched herself out. She rubbed consecutively a bit sleepily her eyes.

"Seven o'clock and we need to go to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, that couple where the money has been stolen from. North has already made an appointment."

"What time?" She groaned a bit, while she rubbed her eyes once again but now with the tip of her index finger and thumb.

"Nine o'clock." He answered in concision.

She looked up and gave him a mortifying glare. "And you wake me up at seven?" She shot aggravated at him, while she leaned with her back against the headboard, simultaneously turning her head towards him. She looked for a second at the alarm clock to be sure she'd seen the time well.

He ignored her, threw the sheets to her side of the bed and sat down at the edge of his side, before he lifted deviously the corners of his lips to speak spry. "Cute how you talk in your sleep." Elsa's eyes widened and she looked up in shock, as her eyes casted to the ground, darting from left to right as they were widened, so to see trying to think of what she could've possibly said to him. Jack laughed. "Dylan, Oh Dylan my _honeybear_, don't leave me!" He said dramatically, while imitating her on an exaggerating feminine tone and before he knew it, he burst out in laughter.

"I don't talk like that!" Elsa narrowed deathly her eyes and it looked like now finally realised that she had talked in her sleep.

"Yes you do." Jack raised to change himself in his clothes. "I understand why your relationship has failed." He continued smirking while he threw a shirt over his head. Elsa raised an eyebrow. "If it's boring in the bedroom…" He added with a wink. Elsa averted her head. Jack noticed her blushing, how cute. "Was Dylan-"

"Oh just shut up!" She snapped at him, while she moved her head in his direction, her voice sounding almost hoarse. "You don't know anything about me and I'd like to keep it that way." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed deeply.

He realised that he really had to stop now, because he saw that there were tears in her eyes. He wanted to speak, but immediately shut his mouth and resumed dressing himself in silence. He realised that maybe he had crossed the line. He thought and it was clear Elsa wasn't mentally full recovered from the break up with that Dylan. What she said was true; he'd seen her three months ago on the staff party, where they'd met. He heard she was in a relationship, a thing that was pretty extraordinary for an agent who worked for the ISA. Combining private life with this job was practically impossible.

He walked lost in thoughts to the kitchen as he thought of that one party that was better than any other, because of that one angel that had fallen out of the heavens.

**FLASHBACK**

Jack was at a staff party for all the ISA agents. He was standing around a bar table with a glass of champagne, talking to Mulan, a good friend of him. She was Asian, had shoulder long black hair and had friendly brown eyes. She was brave as well intrepid and Jack had big reverence for that.

It was a private party for only agents and it was held in Hiccup's apartment, a beautiful large penthouse in South Africa. It was established in Paarl to be exactly, a beautiful suburb in Cape Town, although he first wanted to live close to the Drakensberg mountain. His house stood in a quarter that only residents could enter since there was a big gate that was situated around it. The quarter stood on a high hill and when you looked down out of the huge panorama glass wall in the living room where they were, you looked straight upon Cape Town, while little lights of street lanterns, houses, cars that drove through the streets and airplanes that flew over, were to be seen.

The swimming pool outside was lit, while some people were standing on the terrace outside to feel how the fresh air filled their nostrils. The sky was filled with thousands of stars and it was a beautiful night to be outside, but Jack preferred inside more. Some music played out- and inside and Hiccup had enabled it like that that everywhere the same music at the same time was played with a Bluetooth system. Outside were some people dancing, talking, laughing just like inside.

Everyone was happy to not have a case now, although everybody still had weapons with him or her as always. Jack made sure his Semi-Automat was on his back, close to his trousers as his jacket covered it up. He knew the ladies always had their gun in their designers bags and he also knew the line 'gun in my purse, bitch I came dress to kill' ruled here for sure.

"Any new cases?" He asked smiling nicely to Mulan. She was not his type of woman; he fell more for the European women and thereby she was engaged to Shang, some handsome Chinese who she had gotten to know at a training, since he was also part of the ISA, but he worked at another department that was busy with the international connection between other ISA offices also known as department of IC.

"Yes, a case in in New York, a group of men who bring destruction to China Town." Mulan sighed, while she casted her eyes down. She had grown up there, so she knew the quarter better than no one else and so to see, it hurt her to see how her quarter was being destroyed.

Jack smiled with his irresistible smirk as he mumbled something about shooting the guys in their legs, they fall, handcuff them and case closed, while he leaned with his elbow on the bar table, before he grabbed some coated peanuts, before he threw them in the air and caught them with his mouth so Mulan giggled. He winked quickly at her before she continued.

"It's a bit more complicated than you think, I'll explain everything another time."

Someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around. Astrid was standing behind him with a devious smirk planted on her beautiful face. Ah, Astrid Hofferson; one of his best friends. She came from Sweden, had long blonde hair in a knotted braid and huge blue eyes that could spit fire or give passionate love. Oh yes, this girl was on fire. She wore striking red lipstick and a bordeaux coloured dress that reached till her knees. It showed her beautiful posture and well-formed hips. Astrid wasn't a woman to show off her curves; she was already happy when the twenty-four-year-old 'was just' here and nothing more and that was why she normally always wore loose clothing, but so to see this evening was an exception.

"Hey Astrid, how's going? You look beautiful.'' He complimented her as he gave her a pat on her shoulder. She was like a 'man friend' and 'woman friend' in one. She talked and acted like a man with her guns and when she said something, she did it, but she had the sensuality of a woman and she could be incredibly tempting if she was in the mood. He had once a one-night stand with her and from that moment he was convinced she was sent from heaven to serve him and nobody else.

''Thanks! I thought, lets try for once something different than my comfortable sweater and this is the result.'' She laughed coyly as she shrugged a bit, smiling softly.

''Now I see you here, I thought you had a case in Denmark and couldn't come to South Africa let alone this party? And then a party Hiccup has organised!" He spoke surprised as he turned himself to fully towards her, turning his back to Mulan who was smooching her fiancé from head to toe.

"Well no, Hiccup had to take the case over from me, North said. Like what? I can do it all by myself! But now Hiccup heard he has to fly next week to Denmark and not this evening that's why he can give this party otherwise I would've invited everyone to come to my second apartment in Stockholm." Astrid defended herself in her dignity, while she lifted her chin and snorted in disapproval at the name 'Hiccup'.

"But Astrid, don't forget to mention, Hiccup is from Denmark, so he knows the country better." Jack explained, while he was cautious that Astrid wasn't quite a fan of this supporting for Hiccup's side and not for hers.

Astrid groaned a bit as she rolled slightly her eyes, before she spat slightly pursing her lips. ''Jack! I also come from Scandinavia! It's not China for me!'' She protested.

''That may be Astrid, but we all know you secretly do like Mr. Haddock, isn't it Mrs. Hofferson? Or should I say Mrs._ Haddock_.'' He teased her deviously as he saw how she blushed slightly. She parted her lips to protest, but then shut her mouth, didn't give any answer suddenly and it was clear it also wasn't her intention of even going to answer him in the end.

He parted his lips to speak and say she had to give the poor guy a chance, but he saw in the corner of his eye how a woman walked past him. He looked up and his eyes widened. What a beautiful appearance walked in front of him! She had platinum blonde hair, blue eyes and _dear Lord_, her posture; her hips, well formed, her stomach, flat, her shoulders and back straightened in dignity and self reverence, while she had a well-formed face. He whistled soft. She was definitely the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

And then the agent realised his mouth had literally dropped.

Astrid smirked when she saw his expression and she turned around to see where he was looking. And how awkward; she placed her hand under his chin and closed his dropped mouth. She gave him a pat on the shoulder before she spoke. "That's Elsa Winters, do not even bother to talk to her, she's not here to make friends. She shoots everyone in her way with her gun in her Louis Vuitton bag, she's for one and a half year in a relation with some Dylan and if I've heard the rumours well he's going to propose her." Astrid said matter-of-factly while she placed one hand on one side of her lips, so only he could hear it when she talked, as she also never averted her gaze from her best friend apparently called Elsa.

He thought it was a beautiful name. ''Is she French or so? Because of her name.''

''No, she's Norwegian, so Scandinavian just like me and Hiccup, but the difference between her and me is that I came four years ago to the US and Elsa has been born here. It was her mother who came to the US, because she was head-over-heels with the American father of her so Charlotte, her mother, left Norway and moved to the LA area." He couldn't help it, but only stare at her in his reverence. The colour blue she wore matched her eyes perfectly and her blue with white chequered Louis Vuitton purse topped it all. This woman was just a perfect example of how he wanted it: his dream companion for life!

"Don't mess with her; she is a personality in- and outside the bedroom if I have to believe that Dylan. Thereby she is North's favourite." Astrid warned him whispering, while she also stared at Elsa who was living in oblivion, not knowing people were talking about her, since she was standing with her back towards them. She sipped some of her champagne as she talked to Hiccup, and as always the two were laughing. Now he saw her, Hiccup had always spoken about some Elsa.

Jack kept on staring at her, but she still hadn't even given him a single glance. He saw how Sera, a good friend of him, joined the conversation between Elsa and Hiccup. "Is she so good?" He asked, still not averting his gaze from her, while he leaned with his arm on the bar table. You had to deliver good work performance if you wanted to become North's favourite.

"Believe me, there is no case she doesn't solve." Astrid said clearly proud of her friend as she was gloating. He didn't care about Astrid's threatening message and the fact that she was almost 'engaged'. How could Astrid know that, it were only rumours! He decided he couldn't pass up this opportunity.

"I'm just going to say 'hi' to someone, I'll be right back." He whispered in her ear, as he smirked with the most charming and devious smile he'd known. He thought that if she's not going to be flattered by this charming gentleman called Jack Frost then she had to be nothing more than just cold-hearted. He began to approach her with his champagne glass in his hand.

She was looking for something in her purse, but she didn't realise Shang, the muscled Chinese guy, walked towards her, calling Mulan's name while he tried to find eye contact with her so he looked past Elsa. Jack still walked towards her, but on a fast pace now. He saw how Shang collapsed into Elsa, although he immediately apologised. Elsa let out a yell, before she lost her balance and fell. Jack reacted and in a reflex and he grabbed her quickly by her wrist.

"Glad I caught you." He said huskily like a gentleman, while he held her by her wrist as she leaned backwards and with in his other hand he held his champagne glass where the bubbles jumped up to the surface of the golden coloured beverage that could only be symbolised as pure wealth. Elsa looked up, her face immediately suspicious and she raised an eyebrow. She clearly hadn't expected to be caught by someone and so to see her reaction it wasn't hard to see that she didn't know him.

"What's your name, beauty?" He said huskily, while one corner of his mouth was lifted to make an irresistible smirk.

Elsa pulled herself away from him, straightened her back and lifted proud her chin while she faced him. Oh, he already liked her. And Astrid was damn right: she had personality. "Elsa. Elsa Winters." She said with a blank expression, while looking straight into his eyes. _Dang_, her eyes... Bluer than a blue lagoon and sparkling like a deep blue sapphire. He could already drown in them.

"Jack Frost. And tell me _hun_, I hope it didn't hurt that bad when you fell out of heaven." He flirted, while winking at her, making deep eye contact.

Elsa stared penetratingly at him and it looked that after he'd said his name that she wasn't that enthusiastic about him anymore somehow. –not that she'd ever been that- ''Jack Frost huh? Wait you hooked up with Astrid two weeks ago.'' She spoke on a disapproving tone as she snorted a bit.

''Astrid and nineteen other beauties if I list them all, but I don't mind if you join the list as well.''

She stared aghast at him, her eyes darting up and down his being, before she moved her hair to her back almost in a hair flip as she walked away from him, back to Hiccup. She didn't even give him one more glance.

"See you later, princess." He smiled on a Prince Charming way, while waving, as he saw how this goddess left him.

He couldn't wait to taste her ambrosia.

He already licked his lips with the thought.

**END FLASHBACK**


	5. Chapter IIII the appointment

**CHAPTER IIII: the Phoenix**

**ELSA**

They were sitting in the car to Mr. and Mrs. Smith for the appointment North had made with them. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were of course the people where the money had been stolen from and Jack and Elsa's hands were itching to solve this case. Jack had rented a car this morning when she was having breakfast and they had enough time to pick it up, otherwise they had to take the Subway, a thing that had been no problem if they had needed to, but Elsa didn't really like the overcrowded vehicles.

"Do you have the list with all the questions?" She asked curiously, actually trying to bring him down for if he hadn't made them. As she searched for her mobile in her Louis Vuitton bag which rested on her lap, restlessly shoving all the things to the side, she mumbled quickly to herself that when your bag is a mess your thoughts are too, and frankly, she had the idea her quote somehow always made sense.

Jack answered almost groaning with a heartedly mumble as he drove that he had them. He didn't give her a glance, since he was too busy with the traffic in front of him, although it was clear he was a bit grumpy. He drove into the left lane and it was clear he was able to handle the boisterous traffic of New York like a true master. Jack pressed irritated his hand on the klaxon horn of the car. "Damn those yellow cabs." He groaned heartedly with a heavy sigh, while he rolled for a swift second with his eyes.

"How is that possible? I didn't know that you've made that list already." She spoke almost challenging and defensive, while raising suspiciously an eyebrow at him, still trying to get eye contact. She hated it when people knew she was looking at them, although they pretended they didn't see you.

"When we flew with the private jet to JFK airport, I was typing things down on my MacBook, well that was that list." He smirked confidently, while pressing down the direction handle that was situated at the side of the steering wheel and it immediately began with beeping, so he gave the sign he was about to turn left. Elsa didn't answer but could only groan heartedly and she immediately turned stubbornly her head to the right to look out of her window. The agent realised that if she wouldn't pay attention to her case now, her colleague would get her promotion.

Jack pressed the brake; the traffic light had jumped on red and to her amusement, they'd stopped next to the Chanel shop. Elsa's eyes widened when she saw it; the most beautiful dress in the world! It was dark blue and standing in the window of the shop. She gasped for air in amazement and placed greedily her hand on the glass of the car window. "Jack can we go here after we're done with the appointment of Mr. and Mrs. Smith?" She asked almost absently in her amazement, still trying not to faint.

"No Elsa, we have better things to do." He groaned magisterial and he accelerated again, because the traffic light had jumped on green.

"But Jack! Argh, you can't tell me what to do!" She almost exclaimed childish, as the dress disappeared in the crowd and Avenues of New York, since they'd driven away.

He moved his head in her direction, roughly and irritated as well. "Are you fucking kidding me?! You ask if we can go to the Chanel shop after going to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, my answer is no and you are truly behaving like a six-year old who isn't getting what she wants when I forbid it, you know that right?!" He shot cockily at her.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. She really wanted that damn dress. It was like made for her! A tensed silence arose between the two persons and the only thing that was to be heard was the roaring engine of the car. Jack cocked victoriously an eyebrow at her when she didn't answer.

He turned right and parked the car in front of a huge apartment complex. Jack laid his arm over Elsa's seat, looked backward, reversed like a master, while turning to parallel parking. The integrated rear view camera beeped glaringly. Jack was at not even a few centimetres removed from the car behind him. He groaned heartedly, again switched the coupling and drove forwards, but he then immediately drove backwards again, so the rear view camera constantly switched from beeping volume and pace. Jack smirked deviously in his childish fun before Elsa hissed.

"Jack! Stop with playing and behaving like a child and park that bloody car." She hissed aggravated through gritted teeth. Apparently, he could only deviously grin and Elsa could only roll with her eyes. She didn't even try to start another quarrel again, because it wasn't helping at all for her idea; Jack was too dominant and he knew that. He knew exactly how to use his character traits.

They stepped out of the car where the apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Smith was situated. Elsa put her Dior sunglasses on so the sun couldn't bother her eyes, before she looked up how high the building in front of her was. The summer sun shone down upon them. Elsa was standing still, admiring the height of the skyscraper. Jack grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him. Elsa almost stumbled by the sudden strength that was pulling her away.

She screeched, then groaned, overhauled him and walked next to him. Jack grabbed dominantly and almost roughly her hand like she was an animal. She looked questioned up and raised an eyebrow, but Jack walked further on with a blank expression and just stared forward with that well-known poker face that deserved an Oscar. She now knew why he'd grabbed her hand. They were _married_.

He whispered warning and authoritatively in her ear she had to act the whole thing along, before he opened the double glass door, so they entered building and came into the luxurious lobby with a reception situated in it.

She sighed. "Yes, _dear_." She answered reluctantly.

"Good, _sweetheart_." He answered bittersweet back through gritted teeth and with the last word she almost gagged on the way how he said it with a fake smile, so everybody wouldn't notice them. For the people who didn't know what happened behind the front door of Jack and Elsa, they were just people who were visiting Mr. and Mrs. Smith, not agents who were undercover at all, no they were a happily married couple who had the most normal and monotone life they could possibly have.

Right?

Elsa wanted to address the woman behind the white marble reception bar, but Jack stopped her by placing on a subtle way his arm in front of her. She stared forward with narrowed eyes, but actually she wanted to give him a slap on his cheek for being in her opinion such a dominant dick.

Jack cleared his throat and the woman looked up from typing things down on the computer. She had brown hair pulled up into a bun, had hazel eyes, wore a black dress, and was probably about twenty-three years old. Elsa saw the woman had all Jack's attention; Jack revealed his irresistible smirk and winked flirtatious at her. Her husband was just flirting with another woman in front of her very face! She thought that if he wanted her to act along, she would do it with all her love. Elsa raised menacingly an eyebrow at him as she cleared her throat, narrowing mortifyingly her eyes at him. Jack looked up at her and made a quick glare that said 'what?!' Elsa shook softly her head in a way of 'never mind', before rolling with her eyes.

The receptionist nodded with a smile, looking up from typing things down on her computer. Jack came back to present and cleared his throat again. ''Mr. and Mrs. Frost here, we have an appointment with Mr. and Mrs. Smith." He said business-like, while he leaned with his arm on the high marble reception desk.

The woman nodded, before she spoke. "Take the lift to the thirty-second floor, there you will find their apartment, number eighty-two. Also, you don't have to inform us in the future; Mr. and Mrs. Smith have told us about you two." She explained friendly. She realised that if they lived in apartment eighty-two on the thirty-second floor that the apartments had to be huge and expensive.

Jack nodded and they walked into the lift. Soon they felt how they were lifted into the air. Elsa looked at herself in the mirror. The woman that stared back in her reflection was tired, had a jetlag and was asking herself how she would ever survive these upcoming months with her dominant husband.

She wore a dark blue dress, her little matching Louis Vuitton purse was in her hand, and a blue sapphire necklace hugged her neck. She looked at her hair. It was pulled in a high bun, but she wanted something different, so she loosened it. Her soft blonde locks fell down and she saw how it cascaded down in slight curls. She separated her hair in three and began to braid it diligently. She saw how Jack stared intensively, tenaciously as well just impudently at her in the mirror.

She smiled fake and acted like she didn't see it. When she was done, they heard the well-known _ping_ of the lift. Before walking out of it, she glanced quickly at herself in the mirror.

"Looking good.…" Jack complimented her with a low groan. Now that was a first.

She raised her eyebrow as she nodded in agreement. "I know." She said sassily. Jack shook his head in the irritation of her vanity, as he was rolling his eyes. He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him.

They walked down the corridor where all the white wooden front doors were, all with a perfectly shining golden name on it of the apparent household. She looked at him and asked insecure if he really meant that he found her good looking.

"Why do women always need a second conformation before they believe us?" He groaned annoyed, while he now dominantly snaked his hand around her waist. He was in her personal space and she hated it.

"But, I mean it..." She said shyly with a tone of suspicion in it to cover up her insecurity. She was scared that maybe the braid didn't looked good, or stupid or-.

"You are beautiful, darling." He said with almost sarcasm on a snarky tone. The grip around her waist increased and he pulled her to him, so her hip bumped in his. The scent of his pervasive aftershave mixed with his Abercrombie &amp; Fitch perfume that always hung around him filled her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose when she smelled how heavy it was.

In the meantime, they had arrived at the apartment door of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. "Jack! Don't act like you are my husband, 'cause you are not. I mean don't I look -"

"Elsa stop it. You are gorgeous, okay? Is that enough to make you stop talking, 'cause I'm getting a headache of it." He hissed annoyed, while he knocked on the front door they were standing in front of.

They heard footsteps and the door was opened by a woman who was about thirty-five years old with long brown hair that was a bit curly, while her blue eyes were friendly and warm. It was clear she was the wife of Mr. Smith, the mighty banker who had property of the powerful Federal Reserve Bank. "Hello you must be Mr. and Mrs. Frost! Come in." She offered friendly, while taking a step backwards so Elsa and Jack could get in.

"I'm Mrs. Smith, also known as Katherine and I'm the wife of Michael. We're the owners of the bank." Mrs. Smith introduced herself, while they shook business-like hands.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jack Frost and this is Elsa Frost, my wife." He introduced himself and Elsa, while he gestured at Elsa with 'my wife'. Elsa blushed softly. He still tightened the grip on her waist, making clear she had to act the whole thing along. It irritated her; she knew he was her husband and that she had to act as the list continued of the all things she had to do as his wife.

"Come, walk with me to the living room. You two look like a cute couple. How many years have you been married?" Mrs. Smith asked curiously, still talking chitchat, while they walked into a modern living room by sliding the white wooden with glass en suite doors to the side. The living room had a view upon Central Park, since there was a panorama glass wall behind the couch. There was a huge zebra skin laying on the ground as a carpet under the glass coffee table that was standing in front of a white fire place.

Jack looked at Elsa for help. There fell an awkward silence and Elsa felt she had to say something and quickly. "We're married for actually just two weeks." She lied with a blank expression.

'Two days you mean.' A voice in her head scoffed.

When Mrs. Smith had turned her back to her and Jack to pick up a tray with empty coffee mugs on it, "What an excitement." He scoffed whispering. Elsa had no time to react or glare because Mrs. Smith again turned herself to them. Jack glanced fake love struck at her but when Mrs. Smith had averted her gaze, he quickly glared deathly at her. Elsa leaned with her head on his shoulder, while they held hands. She held his hand so tightly she had the idea she was temporarily blocking his blood circulation and hell yeah it felt good.

"I'm so happy with her. She is my everything, my love, my princess." He spoke bittersweet, while kissing her on her forehead. Elsa acted the whole thing along and smiled, although she had the idea this comment came out of nowhere.

"I love you." She sighed dreamily with a mollified as well vivacious smile. She laid her arms in his neck and looked deep in his striking blue eyes that were actually quite beautiful.

"I love you more." He said huskily, while also looking at her.

"Impossible." She insisted, while she ran through his messy hair and played around with it. She changed the parting in his hair. She could see him glaring behind his fake acted smile that he didn't like this.

"I love you the most." He spoke acid, while giving her quickly a death glare that she had to stop with playing princess with him and his hair. Elsa smirked devious, while she quickly tapped with her finger on his nose and giggled rambunctiously. She felt how his hand which lay on her back, slid down to her butt. That cunning snake! Elsa looked up in outrage and gave him a mortifying death glare. She immediately stopped with teasing him. Luckily it worked, because Jack removed his hand. Jack subtly fixed his hair by running through his hair and shaking softly his head for once to the right, so it again got back into his old parting.

The en suite doors slid open again and Elsa looked up, just like Jack. "Hello." A man was standing in front of them. He wore a formal suit, had brown hair, but there were strands of grey in, because he was probably about forty-three years old. He had deep blue eyes and a few wrinkles were on his face and around his eyes. She was convinced that was a typical thing about men: if they got white hair because of age it mostly soothed them and made them even look even more attractive in some cases -take George Clooney-, but if woman got white hair and got even one wrinkle it made them look old with a transition on the way.

She looked up when she realised what she had thought. Was she saying that Jack was highly attractive now with his silvery hair? She had to admit it, he was handsome -and he knew that for God's sake- always wore that irresistible smirk that never faded, he had a devious, mischievous and playful sparkle in his eyes, the most resolute and -yes she had to admit it- funny answers and could get every woman he wanted.

But that was the problem; she really wanted to know if there was something behind Jack and that one-night stand behaviour.

She snapped back to present and observed the man. It was clear the guy in front of her was a ruthless businessman who knew exactly what he wanted and Elsa also knew when she looked at him, he was magisterial and the leader. In business and marriage. She snapped out of her thoughts when the man spoke. "I'm Mr. Smith, but you can call me Michael." Mr. Smith said while they shook hands. Elsa slightly raised just like Jack.

''Jack, and this is my wife Elsa.'' Jack introduced themselves.

He nodded as he shook hands with Elsa. "I heard you are private detectives?" Of course they weren't, but she and Jack just played the whole thing along. Jack nodded quickly, while he raised to shake hands with Mr. Smith.

Mrs. Smith offered friendly if they wanted something to drink, while she had placed her hands together in front of her, folding them. She was a really nice person actually in Elsa's opinion. Elsa nodded, while she sat down on the couch, next to Jack and ordered their tea or in Jack's case coffee. Mrs. Smith nodded in response and walked to the kitchen.

"So, tell me what has happened exactly, please." Jack began soberly, going back to business. He picked his space grey MacBook out of his dark brown leather computer bag, opened it and began taking notes.

"Well, we are -as you know- the owners of the bank for already fifteen years and everything went well, until like a month ago money disappeared." Mr. Smith began.

"How many?" Elsa asked directly, looking up from his screen. There fell a silence, and Mr. Smith cocked an eyebrow at Jack, surprised by the resolute question that had erupted out of nowhere. Mr. Smith cleared his throat as he raised suddenly, walked away with no warning and Elsa followed him with her gaze, being apprehensive for one second if he maybe just walked away from the whole conversation. She heard next to her how Jack sighed heavily before he face-palmed subtle so Mr. Smith wouldn't notice it as he mumbled something about having brains and actually using them.

Within seconds Michael, or shortly Mr. Smith, came back as he held papers in his hand, before he gave them to Elsa. Her eyes widened when she saw the statistics and she saw how the amount of money increased which was drained off Mr. Smith's bank account as her eyes glided down the piece of paper to end in a huge amount of 6,9 million dollars. Elsa raised an eyebrow in amusement. In the meantime Jack was busy, typing everything down as he also stared at the piece of paper with some serious concerning statics on it.

He whistled.

"First we were obviously thinking it was one of our employees, but it wasn't. No employee knows the security code from our bank account and the system hasn't been shut down and hasn't either been hacked." Mrs. Smith came back with tea and coffee on a tray to serve the tea for Elsa and the coffee for Jack. Elsa nodded politely.

Jack nodded quickly, in response as a 'thank you'. He sipped some, laid it back on the saucer that laid on the coffee table and then spoke. "Wait, has the money disappeared from your private bank account, like private money, or are we talking about the money from your business, because that would make more sense." Jack spoke magisterial, raising an eyebrow at Mr. Smith who was sitting on the couch left of them.

"Both." Mr. and Mrs. Smith answered in unison before looking at each other when they noticed they'd answered at the exact same time. Jack cocked an eyebrow at his screen, while making notes. Elsa now realised Jack was the one who had been talking the whole time. "Do you write your passwords down on paper or on your computer?"

"Yes I write them down, on paper." Mr. Smith answered.

"Where do you keep them?" She asked resolutely, while looking deep in Mr. Smith's blue eyes. Jack looked up as she could read his thoughts and she knew he was thinking how on earth she could ask this so suddenly. She put his severe look to the back of her head and acted like she didn't see it.

Mr. Smith averted his gaze, was silent for a moment but then spoke to her surprise.

"In the safe."

"Can I see them?" Elsa asked business-like, again being resolute. Mr. Smith hesitated, but then raised from the couch.

"Follow me." Elsa followed him, while Jack kept on making notes and talked to Mrs. Smith about the case and her and Mr. Smith, leading her on.

They walked towards a painting that hung in the corridor. It was quite colourful when you compared it to the white sterile furniture of the Smith's. Mr. Smith gave it a quick spin and it slid sideways, so now you could see a safe that was immured in the wall. He opened it by typing in a code and took consecutively a small paper out of it.

"Don't worry about your private information, you can trust us. Please tell me if you ever remove it from the safe." Elsa leaned with her back against the wall with crossed arms. She lifted her head a bit, while she cocked her head a few degrees to the side, listening closely. Mr. Smith gave her the piece of paper as she studied it. His passwords were hard to crack; it had all kinds of letters and figures so she saw no reason why the money had been stolen, because he had a 'bad' password.

"No I never remove it. Never, only sometimes I look on it because I'd forgotten the password for example, but usually I don't forget to put it back." Mr. Smith assured her, while he put his hands in his pockets.

"So you never 'accidentally' let it just lay on your desk?"

"No, not that I know. I can't remember one time that I'd forgotten to put it back."

"Who also knows about the safe?" Elsa asked suspiciously. She wanted to know everything.

"My wife, Katherine, Victoria who is my daughter and a very close business partner, well actually my financial advisor." Mr. Smith shrugged apathetically.

"I'm interested in your advisor's name." She spoke attentive, now lifting her chin and cocking an eyebrow at Mr. Smith.

"Why? I'm sure I can trust him."

"Sir, we have to know who has stolen from your private and business bank account and we must exclude every person who could've possibly done it.'' She assured him business-like, lifting her chin complacently to stare down upon the mighty tycoon.

"Okay, his name is Hans Westerguard."

A silence.

Elsa processed all the information, biting her under lip, while Mr. Smith stared at her on a way of 'you know him?' "Hans Westerguard huh? I know enough." She mumbled absently with a sigh, before she consecutively turned around and walked towards Jack, who was still making notes and talking to Mrs. Smith.

"Jack, could I talk to you please?" She asked matter-of-factly, while making simultaneously a gesture with her finger that he had to follow her.

"Of course, darling." He sighed heavily, before laying his MacBook aside and in seconds he followed her.

She grabbed his wrist and led him to the corridor. She closed the door to the living room and kitchen. She grabbed Jack's shoulders and pressed him against the wall. She was standing very close upon him, but she had more important things to think about now.

"Listen, the close business friend of Mr. and Mrs. Smith… his name is Hans Westerguard." She hissed whispering on an ominous tone.

"So?" Jack shrugged cockily. He rolled his eyes when she didn't answer. "Women are so vague." He mumbled heartedly through gritted teeth.

"The ISA is has been looking for this guy for years! He has been suspected from teaming up with the infamous Pitch Black, the most ruthless criminal of the United States and The United Kingdom and you can't mess with this guy, Jack!" Elsa almost exclaimed but she had to keep her voice down.

"On the way how you speak about him, looks like you know this guy." Jack sang on a compassionate tone, now raising amusedly an eyebrow at her.

Elsa sighed in her irritation she had to explain everything. "He worked for the ISA."

"What?!" Jack almost yelled in astonishment. Elsa laid quickly her index finger on his lips, so shush him.

"Yes! I knew him vaguely, I've heard stories about him, he gave me a training when I still had to graduate from the academy, he was the favourite employee of North before you and I worked for him and I've heard he was engaged and had an adorable-"

"Elsa get to you point."

"Anyways, all that was years ago! I can't remember his face, nothing. I was too busy with other things, like getting my job on the ISA and finishing the academy."

"Okay, so you are telling me now we are dealing with a guy who actually was pretended to be an ISA agent, but now is a full criminal?" Jack said in disbelief while his eyes became the size of saucers. Elsa nodded affirmatively, but still hesitant, before casting her eyes down. "This is dangerous, Elsa; he knows everything about the ISA, codes, can enter the database and God-knows-more... How long did he study at the ISA academy?" Jack asked wistfully while she had all his attention.

"He's finished it and was an agent like me and you as he worked for North for approximately ten years. He was the favourite of everyone and he even had the honour and luck to meet Laurence!" She'd only heard good stories about him: that he was righteously, good, that everybody liked him and that he always helped everybody who needed it, but then suddenly he quit without giving a reason and became soulless, cold and one of the most wanted people the ISA had ever wanted to arrest. She couldn't understand a person could go so suddenly from good to bad, while no one knew why.

"Shit, North isn't going to like this, I swear." Jack ran worriedly through his hair, while he sighed wistfully and she could almost read the word 'concern' in bold on his forehead.

"I know... But who's going to tell him?" Elsa sighed in despair, while she met Jack's worried eyes.

Jack mumbled heartedly he would, although she could see he wasn't quivering to do it. A cold and tensed atmosphere arose between the two.

The door opened and Mr. Smith walked in. Elsa quickly cleared her throat to start a new conversation subject. "Okay, we're done here, I guess. We can go back to our apartment I think." Elsa sighed heartedly, actually only wanting Jack to hear it.

"Sweetheart, I haven't finished my notes yet." Jack said, while he cupped the back of her head and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. 'They know we're married, now fuck off.' a voice groaned in her head. "I'll finish my notes and then we'll return to our apartment." Jack announced business-like at the mighty banker. Mr. Smith nodded before they all walked back to the living room.

Jack sat down and finished his notes, while Elsa walked to the kitchen to talk to Mrs. Smith.

"Do you have any kids? Pets?" She asked matter-of-factly, while stirring restlessly her tea with a little spoon.

"We have a daughter, Victoria." Mrs. Smith said smiling strained with a heavily sigh. Mrs. Smith averted her gaze from her for some reason and Elsa saw she was holding back information.

"How old is she?" Elsa shrugged.

"Fourteen years old, almost fifteen. She is a unruly." Mrs. Smith sighed wistfully before sipping some of her tea as well. Elsa raised an eyebrow at the woman in front of him. She couldn't make an image of Katherine in her head being a mum. It was silent before Katherine spoke on a wistful tone. "She doesn't listen to us, whatever we say. She has a boyfriend, Oliver who is seventeen years old, actually almost eighteen. He already smokes. Me and my husband just don't want she will too, or does anything else that might harm her."

"Is that everything?" Elsa asked with an amused smile, being a bit sober. Mrs. Smith raised an eyebrow by the sudden cheekiness of her private detective. "I mean, you are not even sure if she smokes or not?" Elsa asked laconic with a tone of suspicion in it.

"No, we have never actually seen her smoking, but her clothes smell like did."

"Any other things that make this child a teenager?" She asked soberly with a breezily sigh, before looking bored at her nails. Jack walked into the kitchen with his coffee mug in his hand. He leaned against the wall and was now standing next to her.

"Yes, Victoria is a rebel; she does everything God has forbidden." Mrs. Smith sighed with a low chuckle filled with mock.

"Sounds familiar." Jack grinned. He was -obviously- talking about himself. Elsa wanted to roll her eyes, but she held it back.

Mr. Smith also walked into the kitchen. "We've caught her on drinking alcohol, isn't it Michael?" She asked to her husband. Mr. Smith nodded in response after he realised they were talking about Victoria.

"Who?'' Jack asked.

''Veronique, but that's more the name we use for serious situations. Everybody knows her as Victoria.'' Mrs. Smith spoke.

''How old is she?" Jack asked suspiciously, cocking an eyebrow at Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

"Fourteen." Elsa told him, speaking for Mr. or Mrs. Smith, while moving her head in his direction to stare in the blue eyes of her husband.

On the exact same moment the door of the corridor that led to the kitchen opened and a girl, no actually young lady walked into the room with auburn hair, emerald green eyes. She was pretty skinny, pretty long legs and she had a beautiful posture. She had a bit of a top face, her lips were narrowed and small, her jawline was pretty sharp as well her striking green eyes and she already had something Elsa couldn't place.

She could be a model with her red lips, eyeliner wing and almost overall looks. She wore high black plateau high heels and a crimson red dress. Under the dress she wore tights with holes and over the dress she wore a long fluffy black coat.

Her red hair reached her elbows, it had a slight wave in it and it was full of volume. Elsa tried to get eye contact with the girl but it was hard. Her green eyes were disapproving something somehow and her gaze was filled with severe coldness. She threw her light brown cowboy bag which was apparently her schoolbag, on the kitchen counter, as she pursed her narrow lips slightly.

This had to be Victoria. She was in the mean time busy with checking her brand new iPhone 6 plus, while probably messaging. Her body language was cold and detached. Somehow it looked like she was older than fourteen. Elsa learned how to see behind someone's mental wall. She always called it 'reading a person'. It was that you could see things behind someone's smile, see their true intentions, and see their insecurities; the real sensitive person. Everybody has a mental wall and some mental walls are thicker with person A than with person B. This could be because someone has been bullied and doesn't want to be the under dog anymore for example.

She always did it unconsciously; she could stare, observe a person for hours sometimes and it could be that she was getting no information at all about that person, but it could also be she immediately got information about someone. Such things as 'are you who you act who you are' 'are you genuine' 'are you sensitive' and so on or even mental problems. Most of the time, it costs her not even three seconds to see it. She had once told her friend, Louise, a thing she saw in her and it got her to tears. She'd forecasted things about people and she'd never been wrong.

She has had this since she can remember and even her parents were always asking 'how do you know that, Elsa?' and then she always answered with 'I see it and I feel it'. Elsa had once told them that she saw how her niece was acting better than she feels, since Elsa had immediately gazed through her 'I'm fine thank you' smile and that she isn't happy with who she is, how she looks and that she's very insecure and to her own astonishment she even added before she knew it she might have or had an eating disorder. That's a whole thing to say, she knew but once again, in her entire life she'd never been wrong. If she got a bad feeling with a certain person and if she recognised negative energy, she doesn't know how fast she has to go away and leave the apparent place either the person.

She felt how she sometimes needed to make a mental force field so she wouldn't get new information about people because she can't control the information she gets at all time. It's tiring and sometimes she had the idea she was nothing more but a mirror. She came back to present when Jack spoke.

Jack cocked an eyebrow at the girl. "Sure this girl is fourteen?" He whispered, while looking in the corner of his eye at Elsa. Elsa gave him a quick poke he had to stop being 'funny'.

"Hey dear, how was your musical lesson?" Mrs. Smith greeted her daughter. Elsa realised then her school bag was also used for apparently her sweatpants and hoodie or shirt for musical... Victoria gave her mother not even a glance and wanted to walk out of the kitchen, but she almost collapsed into Jack and Elsa who were standing in the doorway and it looked like Victoria now saw that there were more presences than just her parents.

Elsa waved at her with a fake smile, although Jack was showing immediately he wasn't a fan of her, since he stared at her with a cold unwritten face.

Victoria looked suspicious at the two strangers in her kitchen and there fell an awkward silence. Elsa could just conceal a flinch when she looked into the cold green eyes of Victoria, finally getting eye contact. She didn't look to the world like a fourteen-year-old; fourteen-year-olds should be care free, happy, a bit rebel but that was part of growing up, but this girl in front of her wasn't a girl, it was a cold woman who didn't show any emotion, didn't show her feelings, didn't accept love. And she was sure she'd seen these penetratingly green eyes before.

Her emerald green eyes were soulless, with no love in it, so cold and grim. There was something going on with her, but Elsa couldn't find what and it mesmerised her.

"Mum. What are these…. _presences_ doing in our kitchen?" She asked towards her mother, but didn't move. She kept on staring at Elsa, straight in her eyes while Elsa demanded she had to keep looking in the eyes of Victoria, having the intention to not back off. Victoria looked at her from top to bottom, disapprovingly like she was judging her. Elsa narrowed her eyes, lifted proudly her chin in her dignity and looked down upon her. She swept the floor with difficult teenagers.

There fell a silence. Mr. and Mrs. Smith clearly didn't know what to answer. They looked at each other, looking for help. Victoria finally and luckily stopped paying attention to her and turned her head towards her parents so roughly her long red hair moved with her over her shoulder. "Well?" Victoria asked perverse, while cocking spry an eyebrow at them. She didn't like the attitude of that Victoria. She looked in a second at Jack, and they both cocked an eyebrow at each other as the two gave each other the same glance. 'This kid has definitely personality.'

Mrs. Smith finally spoke. "Oh darling-"

"I'm not your darling." Victoria said sharply and almost bitchy. "Now, what are they doing in our kitchen and who are these people?" Victoria demanded while pointing at them with the word 'they'.

Elsa opened her mouth to speak, but Jack stopped her.

"I'm good with kids." He whispered quickly. Elsa smiled fake at him, but actually she wanted to roll her eyes so far into the back of her head, that she could see what was situated behind her. He walked towards the fourteen-year-old- or at least that's what Mr. and Mrs. Smith assured them- and spoke. "Hi. Jack Frost." He began with a smirk, while he held out his hand.

Victoria cocked suspiciously an eyebrow at him and they did not shook hands, since she didn't even make an attempt to place her hand in his. Jack pulled awkward his hand back, while clearing his throat. "Why is your hair almost white?" She asked cheekily, while she cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Victoria, behave yourself!" Mr. Smith said disapprovingly on a warning tone.

Jack snickered quickly, smiling at her. "Long story, we have no time for that now. So, me and my wife are here-"

"Is _that_ your wife?!" Victoria interrupted him with almost disgust in her voice, while her gaze shifted to Elsa. Elsa looked at her, with an 'I beg you pardon?' gaze.

"Eh, yes." Jack said quickly, while scratching the back of his head.

Victoria mumbled heartedly and almost unintelligible something on a wise tone, while the teen rolled her eyes. Well, she was really wise and mature actually. And to be honest, Elsa almost had the idea she could be better a sixteen or seventeen-year-old.

Jack laid a hand on her shoulder. "You know kiddo, you have the exact same attitude as I had as a kid." He grinned. It was clear he wanted that Victoria would trust him, but Victoria kept being as cold as she was, since her cold-hearted gaze was undiminished.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" She asked suspiciously, while she raised coldly an eyebrow at him, now staring deep in Jack's eyes.

"_Bad_." Elsa coughed quickly. Jack gave her a death glare before he continued.

"Well, why are we here, is very simple. We are eh...good friend of your parents." He lied quickly, with an innocent smile.

A sly grin spread across the girl's features. "Really?! Why haven't I seen or heard of you before?!" She said cheekily, while she narrowed her eyes for a second and Elsa was blown away by the way she spoke.

"Victoria! For the last time behave yourself!" Mr. Smith warned her daughter on a menacing tone.

Victoria ignored her parents. "I don't believe you." She hissed cold towards Jack with a death glare.

Victoria narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin while the shivers ran down Elsa's spine. She didn't understand where the got the cheekiness from to just say straight in Jack's face 'I don't believe you'. She was so... cold, and just a total bitch on the first hand if Elsa was allowed to think that. She prayed deep down Victoria had a heart somewhere or that she just had PMS or a bad day and that there was a sweet girl under this facade. She had the idea Victoria looked cold from the outside but she wanted to get to know her better somehow and yes, Elsa thought she may be quite nice if she would thaw. But she could only ask the question to herself in a way of: When?

"Veronique to your room! Now!" Mrs. Smith almost yelled while he stared incisively at her, making clear she was done with her behaviour.

"No." She said sharply, while crossing stubbornly her arms and stared straight into the eyes of Mr. Smith. She revealed her iPhone again and jerked quickly her red hair out of her face, now throwing down the gloves.

"Victoria, do what your mother says." Mr. Smith warned.

"She isn't my mother, you aren't my father and you two will never become my parents! Never!" She yelled at the top of her lungs at them, clenching her fists, while her eyes spit fire.

Mrs. Smith began. "Victoria-"

"NO I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU ALL." She yelled and with these words she ran out of the kitchen, slammed the kitchen door and ran to her room. A few seconds later, they heard how the door of her room closed with a loud _bang_.

Jack whistled soft. "Now that went well." He mumbled sarcastically. Elsa gave him another quick death glare. He really had to stop making these cheeky comments.

Mr. Smith walked towards her bedroom door and yelled. "VICTORIA YOU ARE UNDER HOUSE ARREST."

"_I don't care."_ They heard her yelling back. Mr. Smith sighed wistfully and walked back to the kitchen where everybody was silently sipping their coffee or tea in the awkward atmosphere.

Elsa had two questions in her head she'd wanted to ask Mr. Smith; 'Is this kid adopted?' 'Sure she is your kid?' instead of asking these questions she thought it would be better to ask it on a more subtle way. Mr. Smith apologised himself heartedly for the behaviour of his daughter. "Eh Mr. Smith?" She asked a bit tentatively. Mr. Smith looked up and nodded. "Most of the times red or whatever you want to call it, auburn hair must be in the pheno- or genotype when it comes to family." Elsa asked subtle, sipping some of her tea.

"She is adopted." Mr. Smith sighed a bit while he looked for a second at his wife.

Elsa understood a lot more from Victoria after this, although she knew that this wasn't everything she had to hide. "Have you adopted her as a baby or not?" Jack asked curiously.

"No. She has already had seven foster families. We are her eighth." Mrs. Smith answered, while she wrapped her hands around the warm tea mug.

"Why is she replaced all the time?" Elsa asked curiously while she tried to see the fiery girl again in her mind.

"Behaviour; she's just very complex." Mrs. Smith answered in concision.

"Eh Elsa, I think we should go." Jack suggested softly when Elsa was silent. They said goodbye to the couple, walked towards the corridor, grabbed their coats and sooner yet later, they sat in the car on their way home.

As always Jack drove and Elsa was sitting next to him. "I really don't like the attitude of that Victoria." Jack said, while running through his hair. They stopped in front of a traffic light.

"I swear if my kids are going to be like that, they'll have serious problems." Elsa groaned, while she inserted the address of their apartment in the navigation. ''Although I think this is not her true nature.''

"I have compassion with your future kids." Jack groaned quickly as well impudently, while he accelerated because the traffic light had jumped on green again.

Elsa looked up from inserting the address in the navigation. "What do you mean?" She asked challenging, while moving her head in his direction.

"They will be kept under strict regime." He smiled deviously, not looking at her but at the pavement.

"That may be, but my kids are well brought up and have _manners_." She spoke arrogant. "In stead of yours." She added mumbling.

"I beg you pardon?!'' He said challenging, while moving his head in her direction. He looked straight in her eyes. He was insulted as well aghast that was clear.

Elsa pulled herself together. "You take no responsibility, are-"

"That may be, but my kids have a father who loves them. I can't say that from you. All you are doing is shutting people out." He shot back at her.

Outrage made her eyes widen. She wanted to shout everything at him on this moment, but she was too shocked. She turned her head towards the pavement in front of her. She couldn't hold it back anymore. A tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it roughly away, hoping he wouldn't see it, but he'd seen it. Jack looked at her. She turned her head even more away from him, so he couldn't see her face. She looked out of the window.

Everybody was happy. Together, in love, had a family, children, didn't have to live in their lies. She wiped another hot salty tear away that rolled down her cheek. "E-Elsa I didn't want to-"

"_No_." She said sharply.

Jack looked up. "No? What 'no'? No, don't talk to me? No, don't tell me the utter truth in my fucking face?! Elsa, you can only become a better person if you-"

"Jack I don't have the need to get your kind of wiseacre advice." She shot cold and standoffish at him, still not moving her head.

"I don't care; someone has to tell you. You can only become a better person if you first face your flaws and imperfections. Only then you can learn from your mistakes and become a better person." Elsa ignored him. "Elsa, stop being so stubborn. Answer me." She could hear how his irritation grew with the second, but she still ignored him, now staring impassively to the outside world. "Okay, what a pity you have to screw it up with that stubbornness of you. So you want to be alone? Then be alone." He hissed.

Elsa looked up. She didn't know Jack that well, but she knew you had to irritate him a lot to get this behaviour back from him. She finally moved her head towards him. He accelerated like an idiot. He was mad, that was clear. She saw he looked in the corner of his eye at her, but he didn't say or do anything.

"J-Jack I just want to..." She trailed off. Jack didn't respond. She asked herself why she always had to be the one who had to apologise. 'Screw him'.

"Never mind." She sighed.


	6. Chapter V Assumptions with holes

**CHAPTER V: assumptions with holes**

**JACK**

It was a week later and Jack sat down on the couch, watching Game of Thrones, his favourite TV show. In fact, the agent was convinced it was maybe the best show that had ever been made. And to his relief he was home alone so he could shout and support to his heart's content.

It had been a week later and the couple was still ignoring each other. Elsa had spent most of the time shopping, a good way to avoid him and the apartment, as she was having the time of her life by buying her new babies aka shoes. Jack wasn't angry anymore, but if she kept acting so childish all the time, he could do too. He had a good, well thought-out plan about how to solve this case, but he couldn't share it with her because madam still ignored him and he didn't want to be the one to start a conversation. Plus she was always away from their _cosy_ home.

His stomach growled impatiently for food. But, he didn't want to stuff himself full with crisps because he was convinced his abs had to be cherished and kept. He had plans for again beginning with his training schedule since it was summer so that meant work-out time. Elsa was all about organic and healthy food now and he was convinced she followed a 'bunny' diet; she only ate things like carrots and lettuce lately plus he had the idea she was trying to make him vegan. But he didn't see why she did it, 'cause to him her figure looked great. But Jack sometimes really could be a dick and so he liked it to irritate her.

A lot.

So whenever she was sitting in front of the TV next to him in silence -still ignoring him- eating her carrots and drinking her smoothies, Jack was stuffing himself with crisps and chocolate bars. But now he decided to stop with that because once again he wanted to keep his good posture and Elsa wasn't reacting on it anymore, so no more fun for him.

On evenings, Elsa always cooked, but she was, as mentioned, almost always spending all her time on Fifth Avenue, or Madison Avenue, shopping till she almost literally dropped to the floor because she had almost 'walked her feet off'.

Her words, not his.

Jack paused the interactive TV and walked towards the huge double doors fridge to take stock of what food he could grab to silence the noise his stomach was making for already an hour and a half. There was enough food; Elsa always took care of that. The fridge was filled with —and he had to admit it— the most delicious food. He was a bit skeptical about all this organic shit but in the end it was pretty good in his eyes.

He smirked when he got a good idea. He closed the fridge and walked over to the bookcase in the living room. He grabbed a cookbook and opened it to search for the perfect recipe.

**ELSA**

She finally arrived at her apartment after a full day of walking and shopping. She held several different sized bags in her hands, wore her sunglasses on top of her head and her hair was pulled into a classy bun. It was a miracle it was still in perfect position. She felt tired after all the walking and her feet hurt. She could walk forever in stilettos, but even _she_ got blisters after walking almost her feet off. She cursed silently with every step she took. She had the idea walking and shopping was the only way to escape the actuality of being saddled with Jack. She walked towards the apartment door and put her bags filled with new bought things down on the ground.

She asked herself how she was going to take this on the plane all the way back to LA since her bag would be too heavy if she would continue passionately shopping like this.

Elsa sighed bit in her despondence, trying to think of some solution for this painful dilemma. She had to catch her breath, so she leaned against the doorpost with her back, the woman still panting a bit after from the intensive day. She grinned when she thought of how this was kind of her work-out. She didn't need exercise; shopping and walking was the perfect combination! And it even brought her joy doing it.

It was just a win-win plight.

Elsa shifted and now leaned with her back against the white wooden front door, running a hand through her hair. Before she could even react, the front door opened inwards.

She yelled in panic for help when she fell backwards. She thought she would hit the ground, she thought she would feel pain, but she all didn't. What she _did_ feel was that somebody caught her. The person supported with one hand her back and the other supported her under her knees. She still firmly held her eyelids closed.

"_Glad I caught you."_ The voice whispered huskily.

She sighed heavily. She knew that voice. It was Jack's. She opened her eyes. He hung five centimetres away from her face and she looked straight in his blue lagoon coloured eyes. Jack was smirking so deviously and complacent from ear to ear that even the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland couldn't compete with it. She didn't know how fast she had to release herself out of his grip. She felt herself turning crimson.

"You're wearing a cooking apron." She ascertained matter-of-factly, trying to shove the awkward moment away by quickly opening an innocent conversation subject.

"Finally, my wife is talking to me after a week." He sighed snarky in relief, while turning his back to her before consecutively walking to the kitchen.

"But to answer your question, yes I am wearing an apron, because I'm cooking." He smirked confidently with a coquettish wink. He leaned with his side against the doorpost that led to the kitchen. Jack snickered softly, turned around to head to the kitchen again and resumed cooking.

She now realised her bags were still standing outside in the corridor. Without waiting for an answer she walked towards the front door and opened it. She poked her head through the split of it, looking in the corridor to see if someone was there, and within a second she grabbed her bags and closed the door. She sighed in relief. When she turned around Jack was standing behind her, not even five centimetres away. She yelled in aghast as she placed shocked a hand on her chest. He laughed and turned around once more to walk to the kitchen. "You just want to scare me, isn't it?!" She asked sharply, but Jack didn't react. Even now when she couldn't see his face, she knew an extortionate smirk from ear to ear was planted on it. "Dick-head." She mumbled heartedly in her aversion for him.

She walked into the kitchen and she had to admit it, this dish smelled well. She groaned in dismay. She jumped on the counter to sit on it, crossed one leg over the other one and she placed her hands on her knees as she tilted her chin in dignity.

Elsa was silent and the boiling of the soup was only to be heard. "Elsa, I have a plan how to solve this case, it's a brilliant plan actually." Her 'husband' began business-like, while stirring through his self-made soup. Then she saw all the delicious food he was making. It looked like Thanksgiving. Now he only needed a turkey to stuff and it was picture worth it. She had to admit that she was impressed, but she didn't want to show it. She could cook too, and she was convinced she was maybe even better than him; she got master classes a few months ago.

He resumed calmly, while he turned himself to the food that was sizzling in the pan. "But, let's get back to business. What if we are going with Mr. and Mrs. Smith to one of their cosy innocent business parties? While there we search for suspects, like that Hanselina or however this guy is named-"

"_Hans_." She corrected him matter-of-factly.

"Hey, I was close!" He laughed, as he was turning around with the frying pan with the steaks in it in his hand to face Elsa. He flipped the steaks again and Elsa heard the sizzling in the pan. "If we find someone we suspect, we can lead him on. If that dude or dudelina-"

Elsa couldn't conceal her laugh. "_Dudelina_?" She laughed.

"Yes, the female version of dude." He laughed rambunctiously. Elsa felt how the atmosphere became slowly better and he had a nice smile. His genuine smile was nice, not the cocky self-complacent '_I-fucking-love-myself-and-everybody-needs-to-know-that_' smile.

"Okay, I have to admit it, that's a pretty brilliant one." She laughed.

"I know,'' and they again laughed. ''but yeah, then we throw him or her in jail and case closed." He was still proud of his plan so to see. ''I mean, how simple can this case be?''

"That's easier said done than done what you've just told me, Jack. We first need to make a second appointment with Mr. and Mrs. Smith; we almost have no information about their company and data!" She spoke thoughtfully.

"That's true. We'll arrange something." A sigh escaped his lips as his right hand ran through his messy hair.

She walked back to the kitchen where Jack was and showed all her newly bought things to him as he watched her amusedly. She showed among other things the blue dress she saw when they drove a week ago to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Jack sighed and it was silent when she was done. You could only hear the meat that was sizzling in the pan and the soup that was boiling as he stared attentively at her. "You know you really have a shopping addiction huh?" He spoke as he shook his head slightly, while he opened some cupboards to search for pepper and salt.

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "What I just like shopping." She shrugged innocently in her oblivion.

"That's new." He scoffed monotone and again turned around to resume cooking. "Oh Elsa, could you set the table please? Dinner is ready."

"Sure." She sighed and jumped off the counter.

'Please', that was a first.

* * *

The next day Elsa was sitting on the couch in the living room, texting with Astrid, who now had a case with Hiccup in Amsterdam. The sound of incoming messages was constantly to be heard.

**Astrid: Do you also have a colleague where you have to cooperate with the entire case? **_13:21_

**Elsa: Unfortunately yes, Jack and I are saddled with each other for eight months in one apartment in NY...**_ 13:21_

**Astrid: Jack Frost?! The killer lady of the ISA? No way! **_13:22_

**Elsa: Yes, and only for once hopefully **_13:22_

**Astrid:**** Wow, what an enthusiasm... **_13:23_

**Elsa: Yes, he's just sometimes cocky, he's a huge flirt, he always has a resolute answer, and he interferes himself with everything isn't his business **_13:24_

She saw how Astrid was typing her ass off when as she waited four long minutes to get an answer back.

**Astrid: Elsa, you're an agent, you always interfere yourself with what isn't your business... But I can't believe it. You're in New York for eight months with Jack Frost in one apartment! Everyone in the ISA -and I'm talking about all the women- would kill for your case now. I'm stuck with Hiccup for five months! We're now in Amsterdam. Seriously Dutch is a weird language and the ISA headquarter is an underground building! It's under the Central Station! Hiccup can already say 'how are you' and he can greet people! But seriously, in one apartment? Hiccup and I sleep luckily in separate rooms. We sleep in the Victoria Hotel, almost across Central Station! It's so beautiful **_13:28_

**Elsa: And to be precise we sleep in one bed. And you've mentioned Hiccup's name now three times, sweetheart. That's three times too much for you and your ego **_13:3o_

And she added: **Elsa: Sure you're not secretly having a crush on him? ;) **_13:3o_

"Elsa, I'm going to Skype with North at Starbucks about the case, I'll be right back." Jack announced, while he walked past her, since she sat on the couch in their living room.

"Okay." She replied absently, simultaneously messaging.

Jack walked to their bedroom to get his leather jacket, put it on, and walked consecutively to the corridor, but then he stopped and faced her, while he revealed his phone out of his pockets. "Oh and Elsa?" She hummed in answer without looking up from her screen. "I won't take any keys with me, you'll be home, right?"

**Astrid: NO! NEVER! I'll never tell him I love him. Before I know it we're cuddling, buying roses and singing love duets like how they also do in Disney movies. NO WAY I'm going to sing 'Love Is An Open Door' from that fucked up movie Frozen! But you know Hiccup said that if Disney characters sing like a duet, that that is like for them having sex. It needs to be PG for kids who are six years old, so the love birds sing a duet in stead of doing it, but we adults know better now ;) Look at Hans and Anna, the two are so love struck and in real life that Hans would've just lured her in for a huge one-night stand. But anyway I bet you've made a Berlin wall of pillows to divide his side of the bed and yours **_13:34_

She laughed because of Astrid's message especially the Disney part. ''What did you say?" She looked up, their eyes meeting. Jack rolled his eyes. "Eh yes." She said quickly to prevent quarrels and she resumed texting rapidly.

Jack resumed walking to the corridor and a few seconds later she heard the front door closing.

Finally home alone.

**JACK**

Yellow cabs, boisterous and irascible traffic, thousands of lights of Times Square, busy crowds, and millions of tourists coloured the street image of New York as the smell that was an amalgamation existing out of revving engines and hotdog stands filled the agent's nostrils.

He walked to the nearest Starbucks with his computer bag in his hand, the agent wearing his tuxedo. He occasionally bumped elbows, trying to avoid to colliding into other oncoming people that walked past him, as the crowd surged around him. Finally he could escape Elsa. He already had compassion for her future husband; he was convinced she was so stubborn and had too much personality to handle for eight months. Let alone if you're married with her for _the rest of your life._

He looked around. You could see the well-known New York street image of yellow cabs coming and going, the over-crowded crowds, the food stalls selling hot dogs and pretzels. He felt his cell phone vibrating rhythmically in his pocket. He revealed his phone and he saw the caller ID of Hiccup appearing on screen with a photo of him and his black cat Toothless.

He answered the phone. "Hey Hiccup."

"_Hey Jack! How's it going there? Are you surviving the whole drama so far with Mrs. Frost?"_ Hiccup teased him laughing.

"Huh, believe me, Mrs. Frost is a hot heat." He groaned as the agent made his way through the crowds of the tireless tourists, businessmen, people who were taking a break, he could name it all. He saw a woman that walked in the corner of his eye past him. It was clear she had a lot of money. He winked at her. Just flirting, harmless fun.

He loved it.

"_I know, but if you get to know her better you'll discover she's special and a true friend, but don't forget: She is as sweet as pie, but if you break her heart, she turns cold as ice_."

Jack raised an eyebrow, now stopping walking when he heard how Hiccup talked about her. The crowd that surged around him shot him a quick death glare at the fella, but Jack acted like he didn't see it. "Yes, Mr. _Poetry_. But do you actually_ know_ Elsa, like her true nature?"

"_Of course! She's my best friend!"_ Hiccup said in a duh-tone.

"How the fuck did you manage that? I'm... Let me say two weeks stuck with this child and I'm seriously asking myself if I'll ever return back in LA." He groaned, now waking further again. He walked along with the crowd over a zebra crossing, the yellow cabs stopping for him.

Hiccup shushed him. "_It's going to be alright, she'll thaw. She is just-"_

"Cold and sassy? Tell me something I don't know." He scoffed snorting, interrupting his buddy with no pardon.

"_No, that's her outside, but from the inside she is very sweet, caring, and smart if you learn to trust her, thereby she is in a rough period of life now so be a bit nice to her."_

"Are we talking now about the conversation topic Dylan? Huh, I know everything about it. Did you know Elsa talks in her sleep?''

"_Eh no, I don't really have sleepovers with her..."_ Hiccup stammered and Jack knew the twenty-eight year old was blushing furiously on the other side of the line.

"Saint." Jack teased.

Hiccup laughed. "_I mean it, I've never slept with her_."

"Well, I did and I can tell you, you can't even fall asleep when you want it."

"_You sleep in one bed with her? My God did you have sex with her? How, when, why; she never allows guys to lure her in for things like that! Jack you have a talent!"_ Hiccup almost exclaimed in reverence and excitement.

"No and even if I'd wanted to, she'll slap me off our bed. No, I haven't had sex with her. Yet.'' Hiccup laughed when he heard how Jack added 'yet'. ''No, there's only one bed and neither of us are agreeing to sleep in the same bed, but I refuse to obey to her bossy commands that say I need to sleep on the couch. Hiccup, I can tell you, I already regret accepting this case." Jack sighed heavily and dramatically in his despondence.

Hiccup snickered. "_Hey, but why can't you fall asleep?_"

"Why? Huh, I'll tell you why: Because madam is building a damn Berlin wall of pillows to separate 'my side of the bed' and 'her side of the bed', thereby if I touch her with 'one finger' I have serious problems. It's like we're close to a divorce!" He exclaimed sighing while imitating her. A few people in the crowd looked up. Hiccup laughed once again, while he mumbled something about Elsa's humour, but Jack knew she wasn't joking at all with the whole plight.

He approached the Starbucks and walked inside. The coffee smell filled his nostrils. It was crowded; everybody was talking, laughing, eating croissants, doughnuts, sandwiches or drinking coffee as a long row of people was waiting to order their drink. He sat down at a table. "And, how's it going with Astrid and you?" He began, opening a new conversation topic, while he wiggled his eyebrows and impatiently drummed with his fingers on the wooden table.

"_Oh good_." Hiccup answered nonchalant and apathetically, while he made his voice lower, to sound like a real man and sturdy-like, like he didn't care, but Jack knew better.

"Hiccup..." He began, smiling devious.

"_Okay... horrible_." He said, while exhaling and his voice immediately sounded like a girl so high pitched was it.

"It's going to be alright, I promise. Astrid will thaw, but she just needs some time to. Hic, I have a lot to do, I see you in LA."

"_Yes, bye!"_ He said and hung up.

Jack opened his computer bag and revealed his MacBook. He turned it on and searched for Skype. He switched his status to online. He looked in his list of contacts and soon he found North. That well-known Skype tone beeped. He actually hoped his boss wouldn't answer, because Jack had no idea what to expect with what he would say when he would discover they were talking about a person that first worked for the ISA. He felt anxious and nervous. He quick and nervously ran a hand through his hair.

He looked around as he heard the monotone beep that kept on echoing in his head. Just when he'd wanted to hang up, North answered the phone. North's face appeared on screen, his hair white as snow and Jack could see the office on the background where he and Elsa had gotten the information for their case. "Oh, hi Jack, I'd already expected your call. How's going in New York?"

Jack swallowed nervously and cleared his throat. "Eh hi, yes it's going well... I guess..." He stammered a bit off guard, the fella searching for the right words.

"Ah, and how's going with you and Elsa in one apartment?"

"What should I say...?" He sighed in despondence, while looking for a brief moment at the ceiling, his words almost overshadowed by all the other people that were talking in the busy cafe.

"She has personality, I know." North snickered a bit. Jack mumbled heartedly a 'tell me about it', now groaning, while he fidgeted restlessly with an empty sugar packet that lay on the table. "But Jack let's get back to the case. Inform me about how the appointment was, if there are any things to suspect, since I assume there is a reason why you call me." North spoke amusedly, although he sounded serious and Jack knew North worked with the quote 'time is money'.

Jack was so happy his camera was turned off now, since he felt how his cheeks burned, because he blushed furiously. And it was nothing for him to blush. "Eh well, the appointment went eh well, and there is indeed a reason why I called you. A very good, eh...reason."

"Tell me." North demanded, while he made a gesture that said 'go on'.

Jack restlessly cleared his throat. "We don't have to deal with an unknown person in this plight, especially not for you, North." He began awkwardly. "Since well the guy who is probably stealing -well we are not really sure, there is a chance-" He trailed off.

"Jack, tell me. Now." North demanded magisterial.

Jack sighed begrudgingly. "It's Hans." He said with a high hoarse voice as fast as he could. He sighed heavily. North's face didn't look happy at all and he saw how his boss' corners of his mouth had noticeably dropped.

And then Jack knew it was officially bye bye well-paid promotion.

"Hans? As in Hans Westerguard?"

Jack nodded softly, now biting so hard his under lip it hurt. North was silent and sighed, while he averted his gaze from the camera. "Okay." He murmured to himself and it was clear he was processing all the information. Jack looked surprised up. Wow, he'd expected a sudden burst of madness, yelling, whatever more. North was very calm for his being in this situation.

A bit too calm.

"So you understand and see that this guy knows everything from the ISA, knows the codes of our headquarter in LA, knows the codes to get in the international headquarter in New York, is able to get in our database and just knows everything? He even worked for you and look North, I don't want to make you mad neither or upset, but this is serious stuff." Jack said on a serious tone.

"I know Jack, this can be dangerous, but we've been looking for this guy for years. Jack, it's your and Elsa's duty to solve this case, okay? I'll see you soon." North hung up. Jack sighed as he remembered North's words.

Dangerous. The word echoed in his head.

* * *

He walked back to his apartment, lost in thoughts. Before he knew it he had -for his feeling too soon than he'd wanted- arrived at the apartment of him and Elsa. He took the elevator and walked down the hallway. He knocked on the front door. He leaned with his hand against the doorpost.

No answer.

He called her name, while he again knocked. He'd said clearly to her that he wouldn't bring any keys with him. "Elsa! Open the door." He groaned harder, so his voice echoed through the corridor, as he knocked harder. Was she gone when he—His thoughts where interrupted as he groaned. 'She's got to be kidding me.'

He glided with his hand inside his suit, close to his chest and revealed his phone. He unlocked it, scrolled to contacts and called Elsa. The monotone beep was heard. "Pick up the phone, pick up the phone." He groaned impatiently, while he laid his hand upon the doorpost of the closed front door and he leaned against it.

He sighed relieved when he heard that she answered the phone. "_With Elsa_." She said business-like and on the same time matter-of-factly, in that typical Elsa tone.

Sober and laconic as always, of course.

He sighed in aggravation. "With Jack, Elsa where the fuck are you? You said you would be home!" He almost yelled in frustration, so his voice echoed through the corridor.

_"I beg you pardon_." She spoke matter-of-factly in a tone filled with oblivion that had to be fake in the agent's opinion.

He sighed irritated, while leaning with his back against the front door. "I'm standing here in front of a closed front door without a key Mrs. Frost." He clarified sighing. It remained silent on the other side of the line and Jack spoke again. "Where are you? I'm coming to you."

Elsa apparently finally managed to speak. "What? Now?"

"No tomorrow...'' He sighed sarcastically. ''Of course now! Tell me where you are.''

She said innocently on a high pitched tone 'Fifth Avenue', but Jack knew she wore an everlasting cheeky smirk on her face on the other side of the line. He was already imagining Elsa, shopping until she dropped with ten bags in her hand to the floor after she'd walked all day over Fifth Avenue. "You've got to be kidding me...Madam is shopping." He sighed to himself in almost disbelief. He cleared his throat. "Okay, I'm coming to you, where exactly are you, 'cause I'm not going to walk the whole bloody Avenue down to find you." He groaned. He wasn't happy with this. She would be home and just had lack on appointments and did what she wanted. No, she not stubborn and opinionated at all.

Note the sarcasm.

"_I'm at the Louis Vuitton boutique."_

"How much money did you spend?" He said resolutely, cocking his eyebrow upwards and Elsa answered an 'about 1,400 dollars' as he knew she smiled devious at the other side of the line from ear to ear. "I have compassion with your future husband. Poor Prince Charming, he has to work while you are spending all his money, as long as you get the newest winter collection of Louis Vuitton."

Elsa laughed. "_Exactly."_

"Elsa you're a gold digger." He laughed, before he looked for a second at his nails, peeling the hangnails off them with his teeth.

"_That's not true!"_ She defended herself although she laughed.

"Which man on earth can give you what our princess wants?" He sighed heavily while he casted his eyes to the ceiling.

"_Prince Charming_." She sighed dreamily as she giggled.

"-But he hasn't arrived yet." He smirked adding.

"_Jack I can tell you one thing: My Prince Charming will come. Mine just took a wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions."_

"Prince Charming? Prince _Douchebag_ you mean." He groaned snarky.

"_Patience Jack. It's the keyword for success_." She sang on a lilt.

"That might be, but let's get back to business. Elsa I'm not happy with this! You said you would be at home!"

"_I've eh... Just kind of forgotten it?"_ She said in a high pitched tone with the innocence where even a six-year-old who'd eaten an extra cookie without asking first couldn't compete with.

"Oh you've just 'kind of forgotten it?!' Really Elsa, you've nailed it! Yeah, just don't listen to what Jack says, because you don't give a fuck about me and the whole world and no, why would you? As long as you can dodge me in and around the house you just do what you want!" He raised his voice even more. "And don't tell me I haven't said I wouldn't bring a key with me! I've said it all clearly to you, but you were too busy with texting, than paying attention to my announcement!" He could almost _hear_ her rolling with her eyes. "I can't appreciate this Elsa! That you have such lack of communication! I haven't!"

"Oh really? Well Jack, I remembered when you picked me up when we had to get to LAX to fly to New York last week, that you were supposed to be there at half past seven instead of half past eight! Now who here has lack of communications?!" She shot back.

"Elsa, shopping time is over. We have more to do than just expanding our Prada stash! This is no shopping paradise but you know, something deep down in me says, just a very deep and vague past reminds me of that there is something called like, _work_." He spoke snarky on a fake acted tone. Elsa tried to protest, but he already spoke. "No 'buts', Elsa. I see you in exactly fifteen minutes at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, bye." And without waiting for an answer, he cut the conversation off by pressing firmly on the red button on his screen.

He took the lift to ground zero and not even a minute later, he stood outside to call a taxi. He walked to the side of the sidewalk, placed his fingers between his lips before whistling hard to then raise his hand to catch the attention of a chauffeur. In seconds there stopped a yellow cab in front of him.

"To Fifth Avenue." He spoke as he stepped into it and the cab drove away to join the busy traffic of the boisterous metropolis.

* * *

**ELSA**

Elsa walked towards the Apple Store with her bags, filled with new bought stuff, in her hands. The agent was lost in thoughts. She thought about that she could use a personal shopper. Maybe Jack wanted to join her for once when she would go shopping. She snickered by the idea. She got an image in her head of an overloaded Jack that carried all her new bought stuff, almost collapsing by the weight he had to carry everything, while she was walking in front of him, having nothing in her hands, as she paraded down the Avenue.

Her husband had a high vanity content with his business suits and designers clothing. She had to admit that his suits, and looks were quite sexy. A strict voice said in her head she had to behave herself. But the idea of a personal shopper wasn't that stupid! She approached the Apple Store. Jack was already waiting for her. When she approached him, she heard he was on the phone with somebody.

He nodded for a second as gesture for 'hi'. Elsa put her bags full of new bought stuff on the ground, patiently waiting. Jack looked at her bags. He raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Kristoff, I have to go. An impatient Elsa is standing in front of me with new bought stuff." He sighed heavily as he laughed before answering. His laugh was fun to stare at and he looked very handsome when he laughed and she had to admit it, his laugh was nice. "No! Not that stuff." He sighed. "If I see one single bra of her she freaks out, let alone if she bought that stuff and then would show me. What a crime." He said sarcastically, while giving her a devious glance.

"Jack!" She hissed. He smiled innocent at her. "Behave yourself!" She hissed furiously, while pointing a finger at him.

"Have to go; Mrs. Frost is irritated. If I don't arrive at LAX in about seven months, then you know why." He joked, giving her a glance for a slight second before he laughed. Elsa heard Kristoff laughing in the background. "Yes, bye." He said and hung up.

"So Elsa, what did you think you were doing?" He asked sharply, while he shoved his phone away in the inside part of his formal suit that was close to his chest when he was done with calling.

"Well, I don't know I was just texting Astrid, and then you left the house for an unexplained reason-"

"Whoa girl, stop right the fuck there." He interrupted her. They got a few confused glances from walk-by people when they heard how this guy was randomly cursing on the most expensive Avenue of the maybe the world.

Elsa felt herself blush. "Jack! Behave yourself, we're on Fifth Avenue!" She hissed in a warning tone again.

"I don't care Elsa, you're going to listen to _me_ right now and you are going to follow _my_ rules. You're trying to tell me I hadn't informed you I went to Starbucks?! That's bullshit because I know I've made myself clear!-"

"But you said-"

"Elsa, keep this in mind for the upcoming minutes: When _Jackie_ is talking _Elsie_ is silent." He interrupted her. Elsa groaned in her irritation as she asked herself why this twenty-six year old was behaving like a six-year-old but she shut her mouth to prevent them from arguing even more.

But then she also asked herself if that was even possible.

"I've said three times. I won't bring the key with me. You've said 'yes' in response, Elsa!" She wanted to protest, but he cut her off. "_Elsie,_ remember what I've said. No wait I have a better idea, repeat what I've just said." He said mischievous, while he crossed dominantly his arms. She said no way she was going to do that, but he spoke already. "No Elsa. Say it." He said strictly.

Elsa sighed irritated. "When _Jackie_ is talking _Elsie_ is silent." She repeated, not holding back in showing the annoyance in her voice.

"Good girl." He said and she had the sudden unpleasant idea he thought she was his little dog to bark, listen, and obey to his commands, everywhere at anytime when he wanted. Elsa gave him as an answer a mortifying glare, not secretly joking. "Elsa, you've said yes! Don't deny it. Okay now you may talk."

"Jack, I can't remember I've said-"

"Do you think that's weird, because-"

She shushed him dominantly and almost sassily as she felt she had to suppress a giggle. Jack looked up by her sudden dominance, but she could see in some way he liked it when she was like this. "Jack keep this in mind for the upcoming two minutes: When_ Elsie_ is talking,_ Jackie _is silent." She said spry and when he didn't answer her, she spoke. "Good. Now to come back on the conversation topic that was about _your_ lack of communication, I just can't remember it. In my memory you picked your jacket and after that, you left and fifteen minutes later, I'd wanted to go shopping-"

"For the change." He sighed sarcastically.

She gave him a strict look. "_Jackie_, we don't want Mrs. _Frost_ to become mad, because then _Jackie_ will be punished." She said warningly, although she was joking deep down but still, he shut wisely his mouth. "And yeah after half an hour you call me, mad, and tell me I actually had to be at home."

"Elsa, I know why you don't remember it, you were texting and not even paying attention to me. You didn't even give me a single glance out of interest." Elsa was silent and averted stubbornly her head, actually agreeing with him and giving in, even when she didn't want it apparently, a thing he understood. Of course it's not fun to lose from a true Frost. "Let's head home." He suggested with a sigh, trying to push his upset feeling aside.

They stood like total idiots across each other, but then Jack made a move she hadn't expected; He hugged her. ''You're my Ice Queen.''

''And you're my stubble head.'' She giggled in his chest, before she trailed her hand over his cheek, and Jack laughed. ''We're so having a love-hate relationship.''

''I know right.'' He sighed, before the two laughed again. ''Come, let's get you and your new bought babies home.''

And that was how Head and Mrs. Ice Queen, made their way back home, and in the end, luckily the two could see the humour of the situation in.


	7. Chapter VI my wife had a playful moment?

**CHAPTER VI: My wife had a playful moment?**

**ELSA**

Two days later, they were eating breakfast. It was silent and you could only hear the sound of knives cutting into the food and the scratching on the plates. "Tea?" She asked matter-of-factly, while she held the teapot in her hand. She almost poured tea in his mug, but Jack stopped her by making firmly a 'stop' sign with his hand as he was chewing on his food.

He said something, but it was more like a mumble, because he was eating at the same time. When he'd finally swallowed and opened his mouth to protest, he spoke so determined she thought something was wrong. "No! Please not, I totally hate tea. No, no tea for me please!" He said with disgust, while shaking his head. He didn't know how fast he had to shove his mug away from her to her amusement.

Elsa cocked suspiciously an eyebrow at him as she stared at him. She had almost the feeling she wanted to ask 'sure you're not having a fever, sweetheart?' because he was acting so weird suddenly, like who doesn't like tea? "Uh, okay." She stammered a bit in her suspicion and incomprehension. She put the teapot down, but she never averted her scrutiny gaze from his dazzling blue eyes.

His hair was messy, he still wore the sweatpants he always wore when he went to sleep and he wore with reluctance a shirt, because she didn't want him to walk shirtless in the house, something he didn't really care about. Although, she had to admit it, his abs were stunning. She was also in her sweatpants, wore her blonde hair into a messy bun and wore a comfortable shirt.

"Give me coffee, it's much better.'' He ordered magisterial on a tone that she didn't like while a voice in her head sighed. 'Please Elsa, could you give me a cup of coffee?' No, he just ordered it like she was his personal slave.

Elsa sighed a bit aggravated since there was not even a 'please' and she tried to re-raise him. She already only bought organic food and poor him after a week, Mr. Douchebag was finally used to it. "I know why, because you need your daily dose of caffeine. Do you know how bad that is? And I think you should drink less and—"

"And I don't care, honey. Thereby, you seriously have an obsession with living 'healthy'. Before we know it you hang boards with the quotes 'Live healthy, love yourself' on the front door." He shot mocking at her as he rolled consecutively his eyes. She asked herself why he had to interrupt her so harshly?

Elsa muttered unintelligible a 'dick-head', but somehow Jack had heard everything and in seconds he smirked as he read the newspaper. It was silent, but then Elsa again spoke. "Maybe it's better to call Mr. and Mrs. Smith after breakfast to make the second appointment.'' She suggested thoughtfully while she wrapped her hands around her tea mug.

Jack nodded affirmatively, before taking a bite from his pancake. "_I'wll cawll thwem."_ He replied with his mouth full.

"Manners, Frost." Elsa chastised disapprovingly, before she finished off her French toast.

Jack swallowed before he spoke on a sulking tone. "You're not my mother." He commented as he cocked an eyebrow at her.

Elsa smirked at him as she giggled. "Luckily not.'' Jack shot a death glare at her in response. She raised to walk to the counter and grabbed her iPhone to check if she had any messages.

"So, what are the plans for today? Going shopping again for the change?" He asked amusedly on a snarky tone, while he raised and picked up his plate to do the dishes.

Elsa looked up and moved her head roughly in his direction. "Please, tell me what do you mean with that." She shot insulted, at him not letting Jack take away her dignity. Huh, she was convinced he'd better showed her some reverence and respect!

**JACK**

Jack opened the tap and threw the dishes into the sink before he turned himself towards her. "Well Elsa, do you know that almost every damn day you leave this apartment, leave me alone and go shopping?!" He shot angrily at her while he raised his voice more and more. It was silent. He didn't avert his gaze from her and looked straight into her eyes. He was done with this behaviour of her. To his surprise, Elsa walked to him in silence, her hips swinging as he followed every movement she was making. Left, right, left, right, but then very slowly and he had to admit it, in almost a tempting way.

When she approached him, she grabbed him with no warning by the collar of his shirt. She was very close now and he could smell the scent of her dreamy perfume that hung in her hair. He cocked an eyebrow at her. The agent asked himself what the hell is she doing and why wasn't she taking his complains serious?!

She jerked him forward, still holding him by the collar of his casual grey shirt and whispered in his ear. "Oh Jackie, you miss me, isn't it?"

Jack raised in suspicion an eyebrow at her. But then he decided to play the game along. He bended and whispered huskily back in her ear. "In your damn dreams." And without waiting for an answer, he freed himself out of her grip, turned around and walked towards the sink to resume to do the dishes.

Elsa didn't say anything. "But are you going to call Mr. and Mrs. Smith then?" She asked business-like, walking towards the counter where the wet dishes laid on, ready to be dried. She grabbed the dishcloth that was hanging on Jack's shoulder and began to dry the dishes.

He hummed absently a 'yes', while scrubbing the dishes, not paying attention to her actually. It was half past ten in the morning and he still wasn't awake somehow.

"When?"

"Is this a cross examination?!" He shot at her, while throwing a plate on the counter. He looked incisively in her eyes. He could see that Elsa was a bit startled from his reaction. "I mean just, when you know? So I can prepare myself for it?" She said uncomfortably.

"Prepare, funny. On what way, Elsa? By doing your make-up?"

Elsa threw the dishcloth on the counter and looked at him. "Why do you have to be such a jerk?" She shot insulted at him as she stared in incomprehension at him.

"And why do you have to be so sexy when you are mad?" He yelled at her but it took three seconds for Elsa to process what he'd actually said.

Elsa's eyes widened in outrage in dismay, groaned out loud and walked away to God-knows-where.

He could only smirk victorious, before he giggled.

* * *

Half an hour later he sat down at the dinner table with his MacBook, writing and reading mail. Elsa was sitting on the couch, watching TV and to be exact she was a program where engaged woman in New York are off to find the wedding dress at Kleinfield for their wedding day.

When he was done with writing emails, he walked towards her and plopped down on the couch next to her to give her some company. Elsa didn't even give him a glance, she was too busy with looking at the screen in front of her. "You're seriously watching this?" He scoffed on a groaning tone while looking at the screen, where a woman wore a wedding dress, mermaid style. He asked himself what so fun was to watch how people were trying on dresses…

Elsa turned her head towards him and cocked not amused an eyebrow at him. "Yeah. Problem with it?" She said sharply as she was challenging him. She again turned her face to the screen. "Thereby, didn't you have to call Mr. and Mrs. Smith?" She asked on a singing tone before looking at her perfect red painted nails, not impressed by his threatening message.

He sighed as he gave in and walked away to the bedroom to call the family in privacy. He sat down at the edge of their bed and dialed the number of Michael. He threw his shoes off, socks, and after that he laid on the bed with his back leaning against the wall. For some reason he hated wearing shoes all day.

The monotone beep was still to be heard and for one moment he was scared that Michael wouldn't answer the phone, but then he finally heard Michael answered. "_Michael Smith, owner of the Federal Reserve Bank, what can I do for you?"_ He heard Michael' business-like voice coming through.

"Hello Mr. Smith, Jack here, your private detective with Elsa. We've had the idea it would be good to make a second appointment, so we get to know more about the whole case and your data." He spoke thoughtfully while looking a bit bored at his nails.

"_Oh of course. My wife and I were already thinking about when we could meet each other again. I have to take a look in my agenda, wait a moment please."_

"Of course." Jack spoke politely. He looked around in the room with a bored expression on his face as he stared at the light blue painted wall that matched the bedroom's theme.

He heard muffles in the background and listened carefully. He heard what sounded like people arguing. "_You can't forbid that I date Oliver!_" He heard a voice almost yelling in the background and guess what, it was our sweet, sweet Victoria.

He knew it wasn't polite to listen to private conversations, but he didn't have anything better to do, so he kept on listening. "_Yes! Yes your father and I can! He has a bad influence on you Victoria! And we just want you to break contact with him!" _He heard Katherine yelling back. He heard she was concerned about her, but it also looked like that was exactly where Victoria was having problems with: if people interfere themselves too much with her business.

"_That's not true! He doesn't have a bad influence on me! And you can say what you want but I will find a way to see him no matter what!" _Victoria yelled back.

"Victoria, behave yourself please, I'm having a business conversation." Michael scolded whispering; hoping Jack wouldn't hear it, but Jack could hear every single word.

"_You blame me here, but your wife is the one who had started this!" _He heard Victoria defending herself. Your wife, not mum, not Katherine, no it was _your wife. _And on the way she said it. With all the disgust she'd known.

"_Victoria please leave and argue with Kath in another room, again, I'm having a business conversation_." Michael warned her on a sulking tone.

"_Go yourself!"_ She yelled back in aggravation. Jack rolled his eyes and he was convinced that if his future kids were going to be so much trouble, they were going to have serious problems. Jack asked himself what could possibly be wrong with her, but he didn't come any further than a chronic 24/7 PMS.

Michael sighed a bit before he spoke on a sulking tone. "_I'm sorry, my daughter is-"_

"_Fine! Now I'm the bad guy! You know what? I'm going to the people who do love me!" _He heard her yelling before he heard how she walked away.

"_You are not going to Oliver!" _Katherine warned her as the footsteps echoed away.

He couldn't hear what Victoria said next, because Michael probably walked out of the room. "_I am sorry for the behaviour of my daughter." _Michael sighed wistfully.

"It's alright." Jack said quickly.

"_Well, where were we? Oh yes, about the new appointment, I have time at... Sorry I'm just taking a look at my agenda on the computer...about...two weeks is that any trouble for you two? I'm sorry, but I have a lot of meetings and I have to go to Hong Kong soon for business._" Michael apologised.

Actually it was a bit of a problem, because this case had to be solved within eight months and he didn't want to spend any more time with stubborn Elsa. "Eh, no it's alright, we'll be there. What time?" He asked sober, while scratching the back of his head.

_"Eh what about-" _The door of the bedroom opened and Elsa walked in. Because it happened at the same time, he couldn't hear what Michael had said. Elsa was standing across him as she had her arms crossed. He made a gesture that she had to go away, by flapping his hand in the direction of the door, but Elsa kept on standing where she stood with an everlasting smirk on her face.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear what you've said, since my wife came into the room." He groaned grumpy, while looking with a warning look at Elsa.

_"Oh, I said what about two 'o clock. On the thirteenth of August?" _Michael suggested.

Elsa sat down at the end of the bed next to his feet. "Yeah is-" He burst out in laughter when Elsa tickled him under his feet. "I-I'm so-sorry, Elsa! Stop!" He laughed, but also tried to say it on a warning tone, while he was twisting, squirming, trying everything so he could escape her.

"_Eh, Mr. Frost is everything alright?" _He heard Michael ask with a slight tone of suspicion in his voice since he couldn't place the sudden laughter.

"Elsa, stop now! I mean it!" He groaned whispering through gritted teeth, while laying his hand on the phone, so Michael wouldn't hear anything. Elsa finally stopped tickling him and he cleared his throat. "Yes I'm alright, but my wife had a...Playful...moment. But yes, the thirteenth of August is alright." He said as he tried to hold his dignity. He felt himself blush, a thing the agent didn't do often.

Michael laughed. "_Well, I think I'm going to hang up then as I have a lot of other things to do. Bye."_

"Bye." Jack replied and hung up. "Elsa, what did you think you were doing?! I had an important conversation with Mr. Smith!" He spoke in aggravation as he looked incisively at her.

Elsa sighed and smashed herself on the bed next to him on her side and looked at him with smoulder eyes. "What? Didn't you like it?" She smirked like the devil himself, her elbow supported on the mattress while her head supported on the knuckles of her hands.

"Elsa! I mean it."

"Okay! Okay! I'll stop! I won't do it again, okay Mr. PMS?" She laughed teasingly.

Jack couldn't help but slightly grin with her as he gave her a playful poke on her shoulder before the two frenemies giggled rambunctiously.


	8. Chapter VII a V for victory

**CHAPTER VII: a V for victory**

**JACK**

Two weeks later it was quarrel time again and Jack had slowly become sick of the fact that he always had to play daddy for her. "Elsa, hurry up! Come out that damn bathroom you've been in for an hour now, we need to go to Mr. and Mrs. Smith.'' He sulked impatiently. ''And I need to take a shower," he added groaning in aggravation while pounding impatiently on the bathroom door. The sound of water clattering down from the showerhead was to be heard on the other side of the bathroom door.

"Yes, I'm coming," he heard her reply in an almost groaning tone. Of course she'd locked the door, so he couldn't come in. He waited for another minute, leaning with his back against the bathroom door, while the agent whatsapped with Kristoff, but he heard that she still didn't turn the shower off. He stored his phone in his pocket and sighed. "Elsa," he warned through gritted teeth.

She hummed in fake oblivion.

"I mean it. In five minutes I'm coming back and the shower better be turned off, so I can step into the shower.'' She didn't answer, only sighed. He knew if she'd heard it or not, he thought that she was going to see the effects of what would happen if she wouldn't listen to him. He walked back to the living room and sat down on the couch. He turned the TV to HBO, Game of Thrones and before he knew it, the five minutes were done. Just on a good part, he had to interrupt his precious program and with a sigh he walked to the bathroom and knocked hard on the door while yelling.

"Come out now! Turn that bloody shower off or I'll break the door!" He warned magisterial, while he leaned with side against the doorpost and he crossed sulking his arms.

**ELSA**

She knew he was capable of doing that. At the ISA academy they'd learned how to do that. She realised that the shower didn't have shower curtain –it was busted-, so if he would break the door, he would see everything of her. In a millisecond, she turned off the shower and stepped out of the shower. "Elsa I'm going to count to three. One." Elsa grabbed a towel as fast as she could. "two," he continued in a warning tone on the other side of the door. She wrapped the towel around her body and walked as fast as she could with her wet feet to the door.

"Three!" Just in that moment Elsa opened the door, a thing that Jack hadn't expected, so he fell through the open door. Fortunately, Elsa caught him.

"Glad I caught you," she imitated him as she smirked deviously. Jack rolled his eyes as he stood up straight. Elsa walked out with one last wink out of the bathroom as he could only sigh.

They arrived at the apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It had been obtrusively silent the whole ride. Jack parked the car, this time without fooling around and behaving like a little kid; he didn't have the need to get into another quarrel with her. Elsa emerged from the car and jerked the door open. She didn't even wait for him; she just walked towards the apartment complex without even giving him a glance.

"Hey, calm down with the door, okay?" Jack told her while he also emerged from the car and closed the door. He followed her and as soon as he caught up with her, he suddenly grabbed her hand and put on a fake smile when they walked past the receptionist. He squeezed her hand lightly. Elsa looked up to him. She cocked an eyebrow at him. "We have to buy wedding rings, you know," he whispered in her ear while looking forward with a blank expression on his face.

They walked into the lift. Elsa pressed the button of the thirty-second floor and a few seconds later the lift doors closed and he felt how they were lifted into the air. Somehow, it always gave Jack a light feeling in his belly when he felt that. She sighed absently as no words escaped her lips in answer; she simply ignored him while looking in the mirror at herself. She looked to see if she could find any bags under her eyes. Both were still pretty tired from the past few days but it was Jack who almost couldn't sleep because of Elsa's Berlin Wall of pillows that kept on waking him when he rolled in his sleep to the middle of the bed. But then he always got a poke from Mrs. Frost reminding him that if he was about to touch her with one finger he was going to get serious problems but after all: work had to continue.

"Why are you so vain?" he groaned grumpy while rolling his eyes and looking thoroughly annoyed. She always looked in a mirror when there was one and her aura of vanity was shrouding her like neon sportswear. She looked up and her eyes widened by his sudden comment. She turned to him. By the way she did it, her braid swung to the other side of her shoulder.

Her blue eyes were full of defence but if he looked deeper he saw insecurity. This was actually the first time he'd seen this with Elsa. She was the type of Beverly Hills lady with the newest designers' stuff who wasn't giving a fuck about what people think of her. She was one of those women who just lift their chin in self-dignity and act like total bitches. He really didn't like that kind of woman. All the time he'd thought Elsa was that same type of 'arrogant Beverly Hills lady' but he now saw she was more than that or at least that's what he hoped.

"What do you mean?" she challenged him, defending herself in the process. She immediately straightened her back and just like he'd forecasted, she proudly lifted her chin and gave him a death glare while narrowing her mortifying eyes. For a second, he thought she wasn't going to behave arrogant and self-complacent but now he saw that same sparkle in her eyes; cold, but most of all dangerous. He couldn't describe it. Louise was right – don't mess with her; she'll shoot you without even caring. She'll shoot you like nothing; if you don't give her, her needed space and make room for her, she'll shoot you like an animal. A grim thought indeed. Elsa could be mesmerising and hypnotising with her deep blue eyes but she could also be a dangerous cold woman who knew what she wanted.

He now realised he had been staring at her the whole time. He pulled himself together and straightened his back and lifted his chin as well. He was bigger than her and now looked down upon her with narrowed eyes.

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Well, do I get an answer or did you just want to insult me?" she shot right back at him.

He cocked an amused eyebrow at her with a devious smirk. "No Elsa, did you know you always look into every damn mirror you see because you have to know if you look good? It's very annoying and if you want to know it, you are always beautiful in my eyes. I don't care how you look with or without make-up, with or without a designers' bag, okay? You can just be yourself with me." He declared, while raising his voice. He startled himself when he realised what he'd said and he immediately cast his eyes down. It wasn't his plan to be this 'nice'. Actually, he'd just wanted to tell the truth right in her eyes but he then realised this was the truth. She was indeed beautiful with or without make-up, with or without a designer bag.

Elsa looked up, right in his eyes, but he averted his gaze from her. But then their eyes met again. Were they...kind? It was silent. Just when he again wanted to avert his gaze from her, she whispered. "Did you mean that?" Her eyes were so different than five minutes ago. He again saw the insecurity in her eyes.

Okay new lesson about Elsa Winters: be dominant but also kind and you get kind behaviour back, Jack thought while making a mental note of it. Yes, women totally have logic – note the sarcasm- Jack, a voice in his head sang.

"I uh..." he didn't know what to say, if he had to deny or confess. "I uh... no, I just said it in a way… it was just eh..." He trailed off. He didn't want to be, neither play, the sensitive guy. That time was over. Besides he had to think of his reputation and ego at the ISA.

Elsa's eyes immediately went from insecure to upset. "I knew it," she groaned.

"What?"

"You are just the same as all that other self-complacent men who don't show any emotion. They just don't dare to because they are those pathetic human beings who just don't want to be the same guy as they were in their-"

"Don't you dare finish your sentence," he warned her menacingly while pointing a finger to her. He looked deep into her eyes.

Elsa cocked cheekily an eyebrow at him. "Past," she ended daringly while cocking victoriously an eyebrow at him. Ping – and the lift door opened.

Elsa wanted to walk first out of the lift but Jack quickly dodged her and walked as the first of the two out of the lift to Mr. and Mrs. Smith without Elsa on his side.

**ELSA**

Jack walked at a fast pace without even giving her a glance. Something was wrong; he held something back from her. "Jack, wait," she sighed wistfully. She walked as fast as she could on her high heels, trying to catch up to him. Jack kept on staring forward and didn't even give her a glance and it was clear he was ignoring her now. "Jack, please!" She'd finally managed to catch up to him and now stood in front of him. Jack stopped walking and looked at her with narrowed eyes.

The front door of the Smith's opened in the corridor a few feet away. Elsa looked up to see who it was. Victoria walked out of it, probably texting. Her hair was pulled just like the last time she'd seen her, in a high ponytail with a narrow eyeliner etching out her eye's outline and she had her under and upper lip slightly pursed before she curled her under lip under her upper lip. She walked at a sluggish pace with her clothes hanging loosely. She wore a long sleeved fluffy waistcoat, a shirt under it and pants with holes in it as white Nike Air Max shoes hugged her feet. She looked up for a second but then immediately focused herself on her screen and typed some things down. She didn't even give them a glance, didn't even say 'hi'. She just walked past the two, ignoring them stubbornly.

"Also good to see you again, Victoria," Jack sighed in a groaning tone but he immediately shut his mouth when he saw her death glare. Victoria still ignored them even when the girl had clearly heard them. Elsa followed the stubborn teenager with her eyes until Victoria walked into the lift and when the lift doors closed, Elsa turned her head to Jack, cocking meticulously an eyebrow at him.

"Seriously Jack? Could you please be not cocky for once?! Victoria is the fucking daughter of the people from our case, behave yourself!" Elsa snapped commandingly at him while walking to the front door of the Smith's where Victoria had just walked out from. Elsa knocked on the door.

"You are not going to tell me what I will and will not do.'' Jack said quickly before revealing a fake smile for when Mr. or Mrs. Smith would open the door.

Elsa turned her head to him as she asked herself what on earth was wrong with him. The door opened and Michael was standing in the doorway and as always, he was wearing a formal suit. His eyes widened a bit when he saw them.

"Jack, Elsa, come in!" Michael greeted them pleasantly while taking a step back and pulling the door further open to let them in.

Elsa and Jack stepped inside the apartment.

"Hello Michael, nice to see you again," Elsa smiled at Michael as he beamed at her. She felt how Jack's hand trailed up her back and shivers ran down her spine from his sudden touch. Jack gently laid his hand on her shoulder. She asked herself if he just couldn't just lay his hand in one movement on her shoulder instead of trailing up her back like a snake that was about to attack its prey. He slowly pulled her to him so her other shoulder dug into his chest. She felt how his grip tightened around her shoulder and if her shoulder would have been bare, she would've felt his nails digging in her skin. She had the sudden feeling to pull in a subtle way, his hand off her shoulder.

"Follow me to the living room," Michael spoke somberly while gesturing with his hand. She looked up and now saw that there was a security camera hanging in the corridor. Probably because the safe was here. She didn't pay attention anymore to it and she followed Michael to the modern living room and sat down on one of the white couches.

"Well, let's immediately get back to business. I have a meeting in," Michael looked on his expensive Guess watch, "about an hour and a half, so let's do this quickly. Well, I am certainly interested if there are there any questions so far about the case like if you've got any suspect.''

Katherine walked into the room looking as beautiful as ever. "Michael do you want coffee?" Katherine suddenly realised that there were guests in her house. "Oh hello! Mr. and Mrs. Frost, do you want coffee? Tea?"

Michael nodded. "For me, coffee, darling."

"Tea for me please and for my husband as well, he's fond with tea, aren't you, darling?" Elsa smiled with a fake devious sparkle in her eyes while turning her head in his direction. She cocked an eyebrow at him in victory.

She knew Jack hated tea but if he was acting like a total dick-head, he could right back at him. Jack narrowed his eyes for a moment.

"Oh here, I got a cup and the teapot is on the coffee table." Katherine said nicely while pouring the hot liquid in Elsa's cup. "I see I have only one cup here. I'll get another one for Jack." Katherine walked to the kitchen to get the cup while Elsa sipped some of her tea with her hands wrapped around the warm cup. "

Oh Jack, sip some too, I know you will love it because of course, you love tea."

"Yes honey, I am, how did you know that?" he asked with a bittersweet, almost sarcastic tone, in his voice. Elsa laid her hand on his upper leg and resisted cracking a smile. Katherine came back with the cup. She had been pretty quick in Elsa's opinion. She poured Jack's tea into his cup. Jack picked the cup up from the coffee table and sipped some of his tea. It was clear he wanted to be released from Elsa's vengeance as fast as possible.

What a hell of a vengeance of love it was.

"Mother's intuition," she spoke deviously with a shrug, smiling falsely.

"Are you pregnant?" Michael and Katherine asked enthusiastically in unison while Katherine looked up from pouring tea into her own cup and Michael from checking his iPhone.

Jack's eyes widened. He averted his gaze and he chocked like an idiot before spitting out his tea. Elsa's eyes also widened in shock and she almost spit her tea out, just like Jack. Before she knew it, both people were choking and spitting out their tea while gasping for air. The tears formed in her eyes and she felt how the hot tea burned in her lungs. The thought of getting kids with Jack was a thing her brain couldn't handle.

When she finally managed to get some air after this mentally consuming moment of Katherine's, she gave him a quick death glare but Jack was still too busy with getting the hot liquid out of his lungs. It was clear he couldn't handle the thought of him and Elsa having kids too. He turned his head back to Michael and Katherine just like Elsa and he smiled sourly at them, like he had an overdose of sweetness in his mouth.

She could see the questioningly faces of the couple that raised an eyebrow. It was silent for a moment and both parties didn't speak. She mumbled something that looked like an excuse for the behaviour of her husband but she knew it was almost inaudible.

Jack finally spoke. "No! No! Elsa isn't," Jack coughed, "pregnant. No kids are far, far away in the future," he said with a painful voice while waving his hand with the words 'far, far away'. Elsa could see that tears were still in his eyes from the choking.

"And why is that if I may ask so?" Katherine asked. "Tell me your ages please."

"I am twenty-seven and Elsa eh..." he stammered awkwardly while his voice died away. He looked at her for help but Elsa could only cock an eyebrow at him with a devious smirk while putting on face that said: 'Yeah Jack, tell them how old I am.'

_Awkward_, a voice in her head sang.

"Well, eh..." Jack still stammered. Michael and Katherine again both raised an eyebrow at each other, not understanding why Jack didn't know the age of his wife. "Elsa is eh, twenty-five," he said quickly.

She narrowed her eyes when he guessed her age was a year lower than she actually was.

"But this is the perfect time for having kids, don't you both think so?" Katherine smiled affectingly while sitting down on the couch and crossing one leg over the other one, like a proper lady. Her blue eyes were friendly and her brown hair was pulled into a classy chestnut bun.

"Well, eh, I don't...know," Jack mumbled.

Elsa had to say something, and quick. "Well, I said mother intuition because, you know my husband is just like a little child sometimes." Elsa improvised quickly while laying her hand on Jack's knee and simultaneously turning her head to Jack. Jack narrowed his eyes but Elsa acted like she didn't see it and remained as she was with an amused smile. "It's always the same, it's like I have to have to re-raise him; Jack do the laundry, Jack make the bed, Jack do the dishes after finishing your breakfast, Jack put on a shirt instead of walking shirtless through the house, really it's hard first but after a while you learn how to live with it and of course I love him to the end." Elsa ended with a fake smile.

Jack smiled was strained but she saw his expression; 'I'll show you all the corners of the house as soon as we are home.' Translation: 'You. Have. Problems'.

"Oh, I understand I had the exact thing with Michael," Katherine said clearly amused while looking at her husband with a devious smile. Michael blushed, something he never did; he was the kind of businessmen that were emotionless, reckless, and only saw money figures in things and for how much money he could get it but that wasn't strange as it sounded since he was the owner of one of the most important banks in the United States.

"Eh Kath, we need to get back to business, we'll take them to dinner sometime and then you can ask them everything about their future plans," Michael spoke quickly while laying his hand on Katherine's upper leg.

She smiled. "Of course dear, I will leave you alone now." Katherine pulled herself to her feet, gave Michael a quick peck on the lips before she walked out of the living room and closed the white wooden en suite doors behind her.

Michael quickly winked at them as soon as the en suite doors had closed. "Well, where were we?" Michael said in a business-like manner while folding his hands. ''Oh well, I have news. My codes have been stolen now, although first they were just lying in the safe. Like two days ago I wanted to enter my safe but they were gone. I know my wife didn't do anything, she has nothing to do with it and Victoria has nothing to do with this safe. So who else could it be? I'm desperate." Michael sighed while he rubbed his eyes with the tip of his index finger and with his other thumb.

Elsa tried to open her mouth to speak but Jack, laid his finger on her lips, while he was drinking his tea. Elsa could conceal in the last seconds a groan. She looked at him with a blank expression forward, while narrowing her eyes, and wrapping her hands around the teacup and stubbornly sipping some from it.

"Well, we want to get to know your business partners better and all the people who you have connections with. Of course we are private detectives, so they aren't allowed to know all this so –"

"So we decided to organise a party," Elsa suggested, interrupting him.

"Darling, my edit, give credit,'' he sang sprightly in an upbeat tone to Elsa. Michael laughed by the sudden mischief from Jack.

"So _Jack_, decided to organise a party,'' she corrected herself as she groaned with narrowed eyes.

"Better," Jack smirked while he put his tea on the coffee table in front of them.

"I don't understand it I think. I mean, no offence Jack, Elsa, but how can by organising a party solve this case? There has been a serious amount of dollars stolen." Michael said in a serious tone as he looked skeptical about the whole plan.

Jack sighed a bit before speaking. "Well, see it like this…wait, how long until you or your wife's birthday?"

"Or Victoria's," Elsa added mumbling.

"Yeah or your eh, daughter's," Jack said quickly as well awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.

"Well, my wife's birthday was a week ago, my birthday is in eight months but Victoria's is in about two weeks at the twenty-sixth of August."

"Good, then we organise a party in two weeks," Jack shrugged feeling quite superior, like he was the boss here, taking the lead.

Michael raised an eyebrow while he sipped from his coffee. "Mr. Frost while I support your enthusiasm of the whole plan, you leave out important details for me to understand it," Michael spoke confused.

"Okay, so this is the plan; we will organise a party at your house because your sweet daughter, Victoria, turns sixteen," Jack said as Elsa gave him a warning glance in the corner of her eye," and you know we are private detectives and our plan is also to come to that party. Make everybody believe we are new good friends of yours and your wife, so no one will notice us and then we are just going to talk to some of your friends especially with that business partner." Jack explained.

"One question Michael; what kind of business partner is Hans Westerguard to you?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He does my finances," Michael shrugged. Elsa and Jack gave each other both a quick look. Okay, Elsa thought, so Hans is a very good and close friend and also does the finances of Michael and Katherine, no, that's not suspicious at all.

"Did he become a friend of you and your wife and then did finances for you or did he the finances for you and then became a friend, since I'm confused,'' Elsa spoke thoughtfully.

"Well, it's the latter actually. I needed a financial business partner to help me with that side of things such as managing my bank account, private and business –" Elsa and Jack gave each other another glance. This case was too easy. Michael said it all by himself who could've done it.

Michael continued speaking. "And after three years we became pretty close and then he'd become a good friend of me and my wife –"

They heard the front door opening and it closed with a thud. Soon they saw who had come home; it was Victoria who walked into the living room, again on her iPhone 6 now wearing earplugs.

She didn't even look up and plopped down on the big comfortable swivel chair made out of black leather while she kept on typing. It was a talent, Elsa had to admit it. Victoria crossed one leg over the other and with her white varnished nails, she was furiously typing while she quickly moved her head to the right to jerk a strand of red hair out of her sight.

Michael looked up. "Hello Victoria," he spoke quite sternly. Victoria ignored him and kept on typing on her screen. She laughed about something, probably what somebody said in a text. Michael sighed heavily in his wistfulness, it was clear he didn't know how to react to this. Elsa looked at Jack. Jack raised coldly an eyebrow at Victoria, while looking in the corner of his eye at her.

"Victoria, could you please leave this room? I'm having a business conversation," Michael said always in the same matter-of-factly tone what Elsa could describe as the typical 'Michael' tone.

"Leave yourself," she shot coldly at them, still typing, so to see she could still hear people talking with her music still on.

"Victoria, look at me, now," Michael sounded quite strict but Victoria didn't react, although it was clear she'd heard her foster dad. "Veronique, if you don't put your phone away and look at me right now, I will confiscate it," Michael warned.

Elsa followed the whole conversation between father-daughter; well... it was clear Victoria didn't bond herself to Katherine and Michael at all. Something was with her, Elsa couldn't get a clear vision of the girl. Those green eyes, she was sure she'd seen them before. The coldness, the independency, the rebellion, but also a sparkle that said 'don't come close to me'.

Elsa could look for hours at Victoria but she had the idea that Victoria shut everybody out and that the longer she looked; she wouldn't get to know more about the teenager and the less she would find. She was so closed and mysterious. She was nothing but a closed book, locked with a clasp. Her auburn hair, that had a wave, fell far over her shoulders and it even reached her elbows. For the first time Elsa saw how she wore her hair loosely and without a ponytail. Elsa could stare hours at her beautiful auburn hair. But then she saw how it was embraced in an aura of dignity and mysterious coldness that was close to frozen cold.

Her green eyes were so cold with that ominous sparkle in it. Then you had her body language, so closed and cold.

"Veronique," Michael warned.

Victoria now finally looked up. "What?!" she shot angrily at him.

"This is the last time I ask politely. I am in a business meeting and I –"

"Are they here again?! You're lying because the last and first time I saw them," Victoria said, while pointing at Jack and Elsa, "you said that they are good friends of you and your wife, and now you're trying to tell me a nonsense story because you're in a 'business meeting'! Why do adults always have lie, tell nonsense to me because, oh yeah, Victoria is just a stupid teenager and she wouldn't understand it anyway because she is just a kid, yes that's the reason isn't it?"

Elsa and Jack looked in squarely at each other, both raising an eyebrow. Jack amusedly sipped at some of this tea as he watched the rebel.

"They tell me adults always speak the truth and aren't as childish as 'kids', and that they are honest to each other. Well, I will tell you something, I want to know the truth, tell me the story and I want to be treated like a grown up because I'm sick of being treated like a kid. Tell me the truth. Now."

Elsa was shocked by the cheekiness of the girl. She was on fire. The shivers ran down her spine when she saw how Victoria looked at her in the corner of her eye. For some reason, she didn't dare to look in her eyes and when narrowed them while her lips didn't budge an inch in how they were expressing themselves. Victoria didn't quite often look in someone else's eyes and if she did somehow she stared in a certain way at you that you had the feeling, you had to bow down and obey.

"Well Victoria, you know there has been money stolen from the safe? Right?" Michael began.

Victoria's eyes widened in shock and she frowned. "N-no... no I didn't know that, I know passwords have been stolen or hacked, I don't know, but really stolen? How much money?" she asked worriedly. She had become as pale as snow in this three seconds and the coldness in her eyes was being replaced with worry and astonishment.

"I won't tell you the exact amount but let's say we are talking about it a lot. There has been stolen money from the private and business accounts and these are Mr. and Mrs. Frost and they are our private detectives who are going to solve this case." Michael said very business-like, while folding his hands.

Victoria looked up to Jack and Elsa. Jack waved at her with an amused, yet devious smile, but Victoria rolled her eyes at him as it was clear she wasn't a fan of Mr. Frost. Elsa hoped she would also look in her eyes but Elsa let the introvert, cold girl search for contact with her.

"But last time you've said they were friends of you and your wife!" Victoria protested. It was clear she wasn't fond of Michael and Katherine.

Michael raised an eyebrow. "You can also call her Katherine or mum –"

"Eh no. I have a mum and one day she will come, just like my dad and I will have a family again," Victoria said, very wise and arrogant like while lifting her chin. Michael sighed, not even reacting anymore. "Well, if you excuse me, I have to go to class for the musical,'' she announced in dignity like manner while she raised from her chair. She walked away before she quickly flipped her long hair over her shoulder.

"Victoria wait," Michael spoke very strictly. Victoria turned around, so her long red hair swung with her. Her eyes were widened in aggravation. "Could I speak to you in the corridor? Alone please?" Michael asked with an incisively gaze. Victoria was silent and raised almost agilely and contrived an eyebrow but then eventually nodded.

They walked through the en suite doors and as soon as Michael closed them Jack began to speak. "Musical? Huh, this kid doesn't need acting lessons, she has a natural talent for it,'' he mumbled sounding like he was mocking a little while he ran his hand through his messy hair.

"Jack," Elsa warned sighing, while poking him with her elbow.

"What! It's the truth." Jack mumbled as he groaned and he did it so heartedly, it was almost unintelligible. A few minutes later, Victoria slammed the front door because she was heading out to the musical. Michael walked into the living room again where Elsa and Jack were sitting.

"Excuse me, but she is very hard to handle and she has a Bipolar Disorder," Michael said in a serious tone while he sat down on the couch again.

"I'm sorry, a what?" Jack asked sounding confused while he raised amused as well confused eyebrow.

"Bipolar Disorder, don't you know Jack?'' Elsa spoke softly as their eyes met.

Jack shook his head but it was clear he thought that maybe he still heard it somewhere. It was silent. "Eh, no I don't know," he said eventually shrugging.

"Shall I explain?" Michael suggested and Jack nodded. "The Bipolar Disorder is when you are very happy and then suddenly very depressed with no reason to be. Sometimes aggressive behaviour occurs and Victoria especially has the last one sometimes when she has a manic episode. A mania episode is when she's happy and carefree for no reason. Also, don't forget people with this disorder are very impulsive. They boil over from ideas and do things without considering if they bring themselves or others into danger. Sometimes she has ideas and wants to do it immediately because she's totally convinced it has to happen right now and not a second later. A manic episode is that her behaviour switches from happy to a depressed, grumpy, introvert and then she's nothing more than unruly. Manias and manic episodes can last for three days or only one hour."

"About her aggression, could you explain in what way I should think then?" Jack asked cocking an eyebrow.

"She yells very fast and is angry for no reason, is quickly depressed, locks herself up in her room, refuses to eat sometimes and she once threw a cup against the wall," Michael clarified.

"People with it can't control their feelings," Elsa added.

"Indeed," Michael agreed. "She has bad days as nothing is going well. Everybody has to shut their mouth, we can't say anything of her behaviour etc. or we get a cold glare and a yell."

"Is that all? I mean is this her being just a real 'teenager?'" Jack asked matter-of-factly while quoting his fingers in the air with the word 'teenager'.

"No, there is much more. Victoria became convinced that everything in life has failed and that she has no grip on it. This may be a factor in the development of a depression, which she has. She is now in a period that she wants to be in her room with her music on, nothing more, and she is socially very hard to approach."

"The mood swings can complicate normal relationships and may also affect all other aspects of life, like if she ever gets work and so on," Elsa added in a serious tone.

"How do you know all this, Elsa?" Jack asked.

"That Hans Westerguard has it as well," she said with a fake smile.

''You know my financial advisor?'' Michael asked curiously.

''Yes, from a vague past,'' she spoke quickly as Jack snickered at 'vague past'. She quickly stepped on his toes and his giggles died away.

He turned his head again back to Michael before he spoke. "But, is she born with it or –?"

"Born. If one parent has it, there is a chance of twenty percent and if both have it, there is a chance of fifty percent."

"But, you don't know her real parents, right?" Elsa asked.

Michael shook his head. "We know nothing of her past. She came here seven months ago, completely mental and social instable but she never tells us her story, she never tells what's going on with her, she is so closed."

"How can it be caused?" Jack asked, all business-like and cool, but Elsa saw his interest grew with each second.

"It can be caused by stress, past experiences, history of child abuse, families with a lot of conflicts and so on – situations where the child has no safe home."

"But how is it possible that she is so 'not into' people?" Jack asked before sipping some more of his tea, still gagging of the venom he had to drink.

"There is a theory with psychological factors that is about a bonding process interrupted during the first three to four years of life. After leaving or separating with an important person in this life, the child will withdraw from others." Michael answered very business-like.

"For psychological factors we mean, measures include life events from the past that are not processed properly or how they call it: a trauma. Besides the fact that the probability of a non-chronic depression is increased after a traumatic event, gains problems in the processing role in the development of chronic mania or depression." Michael added.

"Blocking painful memories or feelings can lead to a disturbance in the emotional life and therefore to bipolarity," Elsa almost rattled out in a serious tone, still wrapping her hands around the cup.

"Can you do something about it?" Jack asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes, she has medication but it's a fight every day to take them," Michael sighed despondently. It was silent after he had spoken while Jack seemed to slowly understand more about Victoria. Elsa had to admit it; Michael and Katherine had a rebellious daughter with a lot of personality.

Victoria wasn't the easiest teen but she was sure there was a story behind her cold behaviour.

The en suite doors again opened again and Katherine walked into the room with her telephone in her hand. Her face looked worried. "Hello dear," she said to Michael.

"Hello sweetheart, what's wrong?" Michael asked when he saw her expression.

"Walts Private School called. Victoria again ditched classes this week," she sighed wistfully. Michael sighed silently and quickly rubbed his eyes with the tip of his fingers as she almost could read the word 'fatigue' on his forehead. There fell a silence and Jack and Elsa looked at each other. She made a face that said; 'let's go' but Jack made a movement with eyes that they weren't going anywhere and that she had to wait. Elsa quickly rolled her eyes.

"Darling I'm in a business conversation, we'll talk to her when she comes back from the musical," Michael sighed a bit. Katherine nodded and left the room and she resumed the call with her daughter's high school.

"So, eh about the party, is it a plan?'' Jack asked very business-like while he cocked his head slightly to the side.

Michael thought for a moment but then spoke.

"Yes."


	9. Chapter VIII the party

**CHAPTER VIII: The party**

**ELSA**

It was two weeks later and the party would begin at eight PM. Now, the clock told her that it was about an hour before it would begin, so preparations were being made. Jack was going to pick something up or had an appointment with someone, so he was gone and she would just do her hair, put some make-up on and dress herself into one of her cute dresses. She needed to take a shower so she walked to the bathroom, undressed herself, released her hair from its bun – so her long blonde hair fell down – and she stepped into the shower. Elsa turned on the shower's handle and allowed the water to fall down upon her skin.

Fifteen minutes later she stepped out of it. The cold air attacked her body and she hugged herself, trying to keep herself warm as the goose bumps arose all over her skin. The water drops from her wet hair fell upon the ground. She wrapped a towel around her petite form to dry herself and keep her warm.

The door of the bathroom opened, with no warning apparently, by Jack and she almost got a heart attack. "Jack!" she scolded irritably.

"Elsa I have a surprise," he wiggled his eyebrows, ignoring her snappy tone. He leaned against the doorpost with his arms crossed.

"Can we talk about this when I am dressed?" she shot, very irritably, in a sassily tone at him as she knotted the towel around her body.

"Elsa, you are no different from the other women I've seen," it came out very cocky, like she was a piece of meat he ate every day. She could see the way his face winced that he realised she was offended. "In the best way," he added quickly but it came out as nothing more but an attempt to trying to fix the situation. Elsa rolled her eyes and turned around while drying herself, not wanting him to see her naked form.

She looked up when she heard scratches on the door and Jack opened it. A bunch of white curly hair ran into the bathroom.

"Jack, what is this dog doing in here?!" she yelled at the top of lungs while pointing at the white toy poodle that jumped into the puddle of water that her dripping wet hair had caused. She took a step backwards in shock while she clutched the towel against her chest. The dog was small, not even thirty centimetres high and had little white curls.

It was a bunch of curls.

Jack walked to the adorable snow-white coloured dog, picked it up and he smirked widely. "Say hello to Olaf," he smiled in a humours tone while hugging the adorable dog.

"You've bought a dog?! Why, we don't need it!" she exclaimed in dismay while her voice echoed through the bathroom since she was raising it more and more with each second that passed.

"It's a he and yes, we don't need it but Michael and Katherine do," he smiled deviously while an underhand shimmer arose in his eyes as they darkened.

"Jack, please explain to me please why Michael and Katherine need a dog," she said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Jack spoke in an amused tone, "Very simple. You see his collar?" Jack asked while showing the black collar around Olaf's neck. "There is a recorder in it that sends locations and information. Things like conversations will be sent straight to my laptop, so we know exactly what's happening in and around the house of the Smith's. I want to know if there happens more in that apartment than just business meetings and quarrels with that cutie, Victoria.'' Jack shrugged, gloating.

"You're going to eavesdrop? Jack, this is insane! How do you want to give it to them? Just like 'hey, here's a dog for you, even though we are your private detectives it's just a present we just give sometimes.'" She groaned in her incomprehension while she threw her hands in the air.

Jack smirked to her surprise. "Elsa, tell me the fake reason we've organised that party.''

"Because Victoria turns fifteen... oh, you will give it to her as a present but because she is living, of course, with her foster parents in one house."

"It records everything without them knowing it, yes. The ISA has invented these things according to Hiccup – collars for animals that gives you information, like location, conversations, and so on." He ended, smiling cunningly, while he patted Olaf on his head. Olaf licked his hand and Jack smiled. He was fond with dogs, that was clear and it was a thing that surprised her.

"Okay. But if we get caught it wasn't my idea," Elsa sighed heavily while she cast her eyes to the ceiling.

* * *

About an hour later they arrived at the apartment complex of Michael and Katherine. Elsa stepped out of the car and so did Jack. She jerked the door of the car so it closed and the woman decided to walk on her own without her husband to the apartment complex.

She heard in the background how Jack locked the car and almost ran towards her. When he caught up with her, he hooked his arm in hers and laid a hand on her shoulder. "You look beautiful," he whispered in her ear. Elsa moved her head to look questioningly at him. She wondered if he was flirting with her. She looked into his eyes. She knew there was a part where he acted the whole thing but if she looked deeper in his eyes, she saw there was also a part that said that it was genuine. She averted her gaze and slightly blushed. She wore a pastel pink ruffled dress, a matching coloured necklace and her newly bought Jimmy Choo heels that had diamonds on the heel. It was the same pair she'd bought in LA, the day she got the case she had now with Jack.

"Um, thank you," she mumbled flattered, while stroking mollified a strand of hair behind her ear.

They entered the lobby. Jack snaked a possessive arm around her waist and together they walked into the lift. A minute later they heard the ping and they walked out of the lift, hand in hand. He whispered in her ear. "Play the whole thing along. You are Mrs Frost, you love me to the end, I am your Prince Charming, and –"

"And I know," she interrupted him with a fake smile while squeezing his hand softly. Jack moved his head to her, cocking an eyebrow at her. "Darling," she added bitter-sweet.

"I thought so too," he whispered deviously exaggerating the I-fucking-love-myself-and-everyone-may-know-that tone. She disliked moments like this.

Soon, they stood in front of the front door when Elsa's eyes widened in shock. "Jack! Olaf is still in the car! We've totally forgotten him!" She exclaimed in panic and she looked up to meet his eyes.

Jack's eyes also widened. "Go back to the car and get him then!" he demanded whispering through gritted teeth while he put the car keys in his pocket. Elsa nodded and she wanted to walk away as fast as she could on her high heels, but Jack called her back. "Elsa!"

Elsa turned around with a 'what?!' face. His hands glided into his pockets and revealed the car keys. He wiggled with them as he held them in the air. Elsa rolled her eyes. She wanted to walk back but he threw it to her. She caught it with no effort and resumed walking back to the car.

**JACK**

He waited for five minutes before he decided that he'd given her enough time. Okay, then he had to make a fabulous entrance on his own. He knocked on the apartment door before he consecutively leaned against the doorpost with his shoulder.

Soon the door was being opened by Victoria. She opened it only so far, her venom green eyes were piercing through it. "What are _you_ doing here?" she asked suspiciously in a scrutiny as well as in a relentless and ruthless tone. Miss Bipolar didn't hold back on the disgust in her voice when she encountered this obnoxious presence disturbing her birthday.

Jack smirked smarmy. "Hi, Elsa and I are here to celebrate your –" she slammed the door right in his face.

"Birthday," he ended in a monotone. He groaned and knocked again but Victoria ignored him. He looked down at the ground and saw there was a shadow standing behind the front door, since the light came from under it. Victoria was just standing on the other side of the door, but she ignored him.

The bitch.

The lift pinged throughout the corridor. He thought it would be Elsa that would walk out of it but it was a man. The redhead had emerald green eyes and was about 2 meters tall. He wore a formal suit. The fella walked to the same front door as where Jack stood. Jack nodded quickly in a greeting manner while he leaned with his back against the front door as he had his arms crossed.

The man raised an eyebrow when he saw Jack standing aimlessly in front of the front door of the Smith's. The redhead revealed his phone and pushed the home button of his iPhone in so the time was displayed as his screen lit up. "Hello, eh, aren't they at home? I thought the party began at eight?" The auburn-haired fella asked tentatively.

Jack chuckled in mockery. "Oh they _are_ at home but our _sweetie_ of a Victoria slammed the door right in my face," he spoke in fake endearment, raising his voice, while moving his head to the side so Victoria could hear him on the other side of the door.

The man raised an eyebrow for a second before he smiled softly before he asked politely. "Eh, may I give it a try?"

Jack took a step to the side while he gestured at the door with his hand. "Go ahead, but I don't think she'll open the door."

The man snickered softly as he knocked on the door. He spoke firmly but his voice was gentle and calm. "Victoria, could you open the door for me, please?"

Jack tilted his chin a bit. "She won't open the –" The door opened very slowly and narrowed green eyes of the teen pierced through the split of the front door. "door," his thoughts ended on a monotone.

"Hello Victoria, may I come in?" the man asked gently. Victoria stared suspiciously at the man for a few more seconds, then to Jack and then once more back at the man before she nodded begrudgingly, took a step backwards so the door opened further and she let him in. Before the man stepped inside he gave Jack a quick wink.

Did he and Victoria have some kind of bond? And who was he? These were the things he was asking himself. That same moment, the lift pinged in the end of the corridor where Jack still stood in and Elsa walked towards him. She held a trembling Olaf in her arms. "He has got legs to walk," Jack scoffed in a monotone. Elsa raised an eyebrow but ignored him. "You can also just let him walk instead of treating this dog like he is made from porcelain."

Elsa hugged the trembling white toy poodle and turned herself with her back towards Jack. She laid her hands upon the little snow white curly ears of Olaf. "Don't listen to that bad boo-boo of a Jackie, you're safe with mummy," she spoke in a mothering and protective manner, like she was talking to a child.

Jack rolled in his aggravation eyes. He walked to Elsa, grabbed Olaf out of her arms, put him on the ground and knocked on the door. "I swear it's going to be a true how the French call it 'misère' when you have to say goodbye to this dog," Jack mumbled heartedly.

The door opened, to his surprise, and again it was Victoria. "Victoria may we come –" and again she wanted to slam the door in their faces but Jack was fast this time; he put his shoe between the door and the doorpost. "in," he ended with a smirk, while giving her a challenging look.

The girl's eyes slowly became little slits.

They walked inside as they saw how Victoria stared at Olaf but didn't ask anything. Victoria rolled her eyes and turned around to walk to the living room but Elsa stopped her. "Victoria, before you walk away, may my husband and I congratulate you and give you your present?" She put a fake smile on her face. Jack stood next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, nodding affirmatively, as he pulled her close to him.

Victoria sighed a bit, still not speaking a word to them, but nodded.

Elsa held out her hand and shook hers. "Congratulations," she said smiling, "and here's your present," she continued gently. She picked Olaf up from the ground as she handed him over to Victoria.

Victoria's eyes widened when she saw how a bundle of curls and a cute wagging little tail was being handed over to her. "A-a dog? For me? Why would you give me a dog, you don't know me, you –"

"We thought a sweet kid like you deserves one," Jack said in a bittersweet tone but he immediately got a warning poke from his wife.

Victoria petted Olaf through his curls, her green eyes filled with curiosity, now she looked at the little snow-white dog in her arms. Olaf licked her nose and to Jack and Elsa's surprise, she laughed rambunctiously and smiled.

Katherine walked into the corridor to welcome the guests and her eyes widened when she saw the Toy Poodle. "Mr and Mrs Frost, did you give Victoria a –"

"Dog? Yes." Victoria ended for Elsa and Jack, still cuddling Olaf. She nuzzled his little curls with her nose as Olaf seemed happy to get attention and cuddles. It was clear Victoria didn't notice that the thick black collar had a recorder in it. "What's his or her name?" she demanded and her eyes met Elsa and Jack's.

"Well, we've called him Olaf, but if you want to give him another name, you may change it," Jack shrugged almost nicely.

"Olaf is okay," Victoria mumbled a bit while she pursed her narrow but well-formed lips slightly.

"But Victoria, I don't know if this is a good idea. A dog needs love, attention, exercise, not an apartment –"

"We have Central Park and I am always at home after school," Victoria cut Katherine off harshly, "and you are not going to tell me I can't keep him!" She immediately defended herself in her protest while she clamped her arms around the dog like it was a life buoy. Elsa was surprised she was willing to take care of the dog and that she was willing to keep it. She asked herself if a bigger dog soothed her maybe more. A Poodle was absolutely not a dog for her actually.

"Victoria –"

"No,'' Victoria groaned stubbornly and walked into the living room with Olaf in her arms where the party was taking place.

Elsa opened her mouth to speak. "I'm sorry if you don't have time for the dog –"

"No, it's alright. You couldn't have known this at all, of course. You see, my husband and I aren't at home lately because running a bank is very time consuming and Victoria is just...very typical when it comes to giving love, she's bipolar as you know and can be aggressive sometimes. Maybe she won't even care about him. She is always so cold." Katherine sighed wistfully.

"Katherine, Victoria smiled, laughed and patted the dog when we gave Olaf to her! I think she does care about him," Jack spoke, all determined. He chose Victoria's side, something that surprised Elsa.

"My husband and I just thought it would be great idea to give her a dog but if your husband and you don't want it, it's okay," Elsa spoke softly in reverence while she laid her head upon Jack's shoulder. Jack kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her small form.

"We'll see if she manages it. Let's give her three weeks to take care of the dog. If she doesn't do anything with him then the dog has to go I'm afraid." Katherine frowned while she pursed her lips slightly. Elsa and Jack nodded. "Well, let's go to the living room; I've heard from Michael that you two aren't here to party," Katherine winked. Jack and Elsa nodded in unison. Katherine exited the corridor and walked into the living room with Jack and Elsa following her.

Jack turned himself to Elsa. "Listen, we have to find that Hans and other people that are close with Michael and Katherine!" he spoke, still determined while he laid one hand on her shoulder. Elsa nodded in response, "and Elsa, we have to make this relationship work. I always have to kiss you, I always have to wrap my arms around you and you can also take initiative," he sulked in a serious tone.

Elsa raised an eyebrow but then nodded slightly. She grabbed his hand with a sigh and together they walked into the pretty crowded living room. Everywhere were bar tables and people were talking and laughing. Off to the side was a table with presents for Victoria and a cake with frosting. Michael and Katherine had given their foster daughter for her Sweet Sixteen driving lessons and Jack had also heard the billionaires had given her a car, every girl's dream for when she would turn sixteen.

Every girl's, except when you're called Veronique Smith; the girl had cracked a soft smile and mumbled a 'thank you' when she'd seen the cabriolet. She'd spryly asked what on earth she had to do with a car in busy New York, the metropolis where everybody transported itself with the subway, but of course no one was busy with that; Michael and Katherine were seen as generous and nice, and Victoria was seen as the ungrateful bitch.

Well actually, Victoria had a point, but Jack didn't want to interfere himself with the whole plight.

Music was playing from the large speakers and everybody was happy and laughing. And once more everyone except for when you're called Veronique Smith, who sat on the couch, staring with a bored expression around her.

Maybe she had no friends or she'd forgotten to invite them. It could also be that Michael and Katherine only wanted adults to be invited since there were only business people as far as he could see and it was clear Victoria had a good bond with none of them. He raised an eyebrow and the agent asked himself what was wrong with her as he was sure there was something going on that had more to do with girl things like 'does my hair look good?'. Whatever the hell was going on with her, if there was such a thing called bipolar PMS, she definitely had it.

Jack walked further with Elsa on his side. They said 'hi' to everybody and talked a bit with everyone.

**ELSA**

She tried to follow Jack's advice so she was always smiling, laughing, kissing him on his cheek, saying 'dear', 'sweetheart' and 'honey' to him. Then he would hug and whisper huskily in her ear she had to continue.

They walked to Katherine who stood next to her husband. They held hands happily and the couple held both a glass of wine in their free hand. She was talking to her husband. It looked quite serious as Elsa could see that they were frowning and for a moment Katherine cast her eyes down. The music and the happy talking of everybody else in the room muted their voices. Jack and Elsa made sure they weren't bothering them and held distance but then Katherine looked up and spoke.

"Jack and Elsa?" Katherine asked. They both looked up and walked towards her.

"Yes Michael and Katherine?" Jack spoke gently as they took a step forward, hand in hand.

"You know we would take you out for dinner right?" Michael asked, smiling nicely.

"Yes," Jack and Elsa answered in unison.

"How about if we have dinner in about four months, here? Someone else cooks for us – it's an owner from a French cuisine restaurant, situated in the Upper East Side, isn't that nice?" Katherine smiled. Elsa looked up as she recognised the name of the restaurant. It was called Daniel's and it was one of the most expensive ones in New York. If you would pay a lot the cook would make dinner for you and of course that was only for the wealthy who were able to pay more than the average American family earned in three months.

"Um...sure," Elsa answered with a quick smile.

"Good, what if we meet at half past seven in the evening on the twenty-third of November? I'm sorry but haven't gotten any spare time." Michael apologised to them.

"Alright, I'll note it in my agenda," Jack said in a business-like tone, now revealing his phone and he put the information down. When he was done, Jack whispered ominously in Elsa's ear as he stared to one particular boy in the room. "Let me talk to that boy with the black hair who just sat down on the couch next to Victoria, I don't like him," Jack whispered suspiciously, never averting his gaze from the black haired boy that had natural amber yellowish eyes.

"That must be Oliver. Why do you want to talk with him?! Leave him alone; he is just Victoria's boyfriend!" She whispered this with a hissing and a snap at the same time back as her gaze also moved to the enigmatic boy.

"Elsa, I swear I've seen those eyes before," Jack whispered determined back. Elsa rolled her eyes but she gave in. Jack nodded and walked towards Victoria and Oliver.

This had to be Oliver; his complexion was pale like freshly fallen snow, his hair was messy as it was cut into side swept bangs. It had the colour of the Nyx; black. His natural coloured amber eyes were so piercing and ruthless. The way he gazed at his girlfriend was a thing the agent didn't like at all. A huge aura of underhand mystery hung around him and this guy had an even thicker mental wall than Victoria and now that was a thing that was almost impossible. Jack was convinced he could talk better to the wall next to him because that would give him more answers than these two lovebirds added together.

Oliver snaked an arm around Victoria's waist but in the way he did, it made Jack gag. It was full of dominance, might and Jack saw immediately Oliver was an excellent manipulator. He had Victoria in his power. It was clear she was drunk in love, quite contrasted with her boyfriend's abstemious and laconic demeanour. Oliver, for a sixteen-year-old, was very mature and very attractive. He knew why Victoria had fallen in love with him; he was dominant, ruled and that was exactly what Victoria needed; the redhead needed someone who was a leader with rules and structure, something she couldn't find in her foster parents, in herself and most important; in her life.

Jack tried to make eye contact with the boy as he stood from a distance next to the bar table, the agent sipping some of his champagne but Oliver constantly averted his gaze from him.

With Oliver by her side, all of Victoria's coldness vaporised in an instant. Her penetrating green eyes and cold body language were deterrent in Jack's opinion. Her eyes were lifeless when she frowned and she stared at the outside world with a gaze that had this severe coldness to it. When she looked into Oliver's eyes it was like he held her in trance.

Olaf jumped onto the couch and sat down on Victoria's lap. Oliver looked up and without negotiating with Victoria he picked Olaf up and put him down on the floor. Victoria protested, but just when she was about to speak, Oliver kissed her – actually cutting her off – and Jack had to admit that Oliver had a talent for playing cunningly. This guy was slyer than a fox since he'd only kissed her so she would shut her mouth. Their kiss was dispassionate and cold. When they broke apart, Victoria raised herself off the couch and walked to the kitchen with Oliver following her. Jack kept them in sight since the kitchen and living room were one big open space if the en suite doors were open which was the case now.

Victoria walked to a cupboard, grabbed a mug and filled it with water as Oliver approached her from behind. He hugged her as he whispered something in her ear. She looked up and replied to whatever he said. Their voices were muffled and a frown appeared on the girl's features. She then somehow nodded, opened the double door fridge, took out and opened a bottle of beer before she gave it to him.

Jack could lip read and he recognised the words 'give me a kiss' as the boy smiled at Victoria. Victoria gave him a small peck on his lips. Oliver didn't even bend down to her. Instead, Victoria had to stand on tippy toe to reach him. Oliver just let his lips being kissed. Oliver waited for her to come to him. He just let her do the all the work. He handed the beer bottle over to her as Victoria stared down at it, hesitating if she should taste it. Gazes were exchanged between the two, one pair of eyes hesitant, one ominous as they darkened. Eventually Victoria shrugged and she threw her head backwards, now sipping some of the beer.

She frowned and she turned her head away. It was clear she wasn't a fan of the taste. Oliver laughed and Jack heard slightly above all the talking the words 'silly girl'. He grabbed her hand and together they walked out of the kitchen. Once arrived in the living room, he plopped down in the swivel chair where Victoria had sat in when they'd visited last time at the Smith's. He pulled her quickly towards him so she fell on his lap before they laughed. Victoria wrapped her arms around his neck. They eskimo kissed a few times as they giggled like two frisky foals.

Jack walked towards the couple. He stood in front of the swivel chair but the lovebirds were so busy with kissing again, that they didn't notice Jack.

He awkwardly cleared his throat. The two broke apart and looked up to see who disturbed their moment. Oliver raised an eyebrow when he saw Jack. Jack narrowed his eyes to see who he could recognise in his eyes. A person he'd seen before had the exact same eyes – cold, ominous, empty with no love, soulless.

"What?" Victoria snapped at him, still not happy that Jack and Elsa were here at her party. Her eyes narrowed slightly as they glided up and down Jack, severe coldness arose in them as she slightly cocked her head a few degrees to the side.

"Hey Vic, could I-"

"It's Victoria, she hates being called 'Vic'," Oliver interrupted him protectively.

"Indeed," Victoria said, snorting, while tilting her chin in her dignity as she looked straight in his eyes. He knew Victoria was dominant and willful of herself, that was just her personality, but when she was with that Oliver, geez, Jack was convinced this girl was _deathly_. He knew Katherine was right; Oliver did have a bad influence on her.

"Well, I just wanted to meet your... sweet boyfriend," he shrugged but he also realised the line came out too sarcastic when he said 'sweet' and he face palmed in thoughts.

Oliver raised an eyebrow and looked at Victoria, his eyes narrowing. "Tell me who he is. Should I know this guy or something?"

Victoria looked at Jack for help, wondering what she should say next but Jack quickly shook his head when Oliver didn't look at him. Oliver stared directly at her as if he was demanding her to say more. Her eyes widened slightly as she stammered a bit before answering. "Th-they're good friends of my parents," she lied with an expressionless face and she tried to say it while shrugging with this nonchalance but her voice trembled. For some reason he had the idea Victoria was almost scared of her boyfriend.

No wonder she was. Those eyes were quite terrifying.

Oliver narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"I'd like to talk to you," Jack spoke very business-like to Oliver, as he let his hands glide in his pockets, _''alone_.'' Oliver looked up from staring at his girlfriend to get the truth to the surface. He was clearly wondering who this weird guy was and why he was here.

Jack gestured to Oliver that he had to follow him and, together, they walked to the kitchen where luckily nobody was. They walked to the huge wooden dining table where eight people could sit at. There was a beautiful sight of the skyline of New York if he looked through the terrace doors. The lights of the Big Apple were everywhere to be seen.

"Oh don't worry, it's nothing serious, just a good talk from man," Jack spoke and he laid his hands on Oliver's shoulders, "to man." The agent pushed Oliver down into a chair. Oliver raised an eyebrow coldly as he brushed a hand over his shoulder where Jack had pushed him.

Jack sat down on the chair on the other side of the table, across from Oliver.

"First before we have our soothing and nothing serious conversation, what's your name? Full name please," Jack demanded while he laid his hand on the table, drumming impatiently with his fingers onto the cool surface of the table. He looked directly at the sixteen-year-old in front of him, although he looked much older.

"Oliver James Black," he shrugged. Oliver James Black? First thoughts the agent had were 'you've got to be kidding me'. Victoria actually has something to do with a son of that bitch named Pitch, one of the most wanted people in the US and UK? No wonder he'd seen those eyes before. Oliver was a copy of his father; the same arrogant attitude, the same judgemental look, same vicious eyes and the same way of detached body language.

He asked himself if Victoria knew about his father.

Jack turned pale now that he knew Pitch was closer than he'd apparently thought. "Black, huh? Hi, Jack Frost." He introduced himself, not showing any of his astonishment. He'd actually wanted to play the bad guy by revealing the gun he always carried with him to just to intimidate Oliver because his ego was too big, just like his father who thought he was the King of the world, but actually Pitch was the saddest loser who just had to know his place in life in the agent's opinion.

Oliver didn't say anything or he had nothing more to say. He averted his gaze from Jack and stared persistently out of the window. The moonlight that came through the panorama windows shone down upon Oliver's face. It was the only light that was to be seen. His skin looked even paler under it and his eyes looked like they were glowing. A shiver ran down Jack's spine when his hands glided down his thighs. An eyebrow of Jack was slightly raised when the agent saw how Oliver wore a black ring with a pentagram on his ring finger.

"So, how did you two lovebirds meet?" Jack began snickering.

Oliver looked warningly to Jack with a face that said 'is this sarcasm?' but Jack could only smirk. "She is in the same dance school as me." He shrugged.

"Dance school? But I thought she had musical —"

"The school gives dance and musical lessons," Oliver interrupted him with an expression that clearly told Jack that he was stating the obvious before he turned his head away again.

"Where do you guys dance or whatever and what kind of style do you dance? Like ballet, which I don't think you do, or modern or –"

"Hip-hop," Oliver spoke confidently, lifting his chin arrogantly as he interrupted Jack once more, "and we're dancing at Alvin Ailey Dance Academy."

Jack whistled. It was damn hard to be accepted to that academy; the level of experience and skill demanded from applicants was very high, so Oliver had to be very good at hip-hop. "So, you saw her and just thought 'let's date the girl?'" Jack smirked amusing as he raised his eyebrows at the last part of his sentence.

"Kind of," Oliver shrugged indifferently. It irritated the agent that Oliver was so vague and didn't want to give any information away. The door of the kitchen opened and Victoria walked in. She was simultaneously pulling her long hair into a high ponytail as she walked before she consecutively tucked it with a hair tie.

"Hey Oliver, everything alright?" Victoria asked curiously while she wrapped her arms around Oliver's neck to hug him from behind. Oliver moved his head up to face Victoria who was standing behind him and kissed her tenderly. Jack felt like he was going to gag as he asked himself if he was the only one who saw that that Oliver was as fake as Pitch's nose job. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe Oliver was the sweetest boyfriend you could possibly have and everything he had seen and heard about him was just bad luck for his opinion about the teen but he had a bad feeling in his gut.

"Yes my phoenix, everything is alright, let's go to your room, this party is drop dead boring," Oliver commented cockily while he grabbed her hand as he tangled his fingers in hers. Jack frowned. He knew Michael and Katherine wouldn't accept that. Oliver was older, more mature and by the way he could manipulate her made Jack a bit concerned if Victoria wouldn't do anything stupid or something she didn't want to do.

"No, I'm not allowed to go to my room with you, I have to stay here," Victoria groaned through gritted teeth to her boyfriend while she fumbled with his black leather jacket. "Michael had to interfere with our relationship again."

"Fuck the rules of your parents, that you still listen to them. But anyway I have to go now. See you later, babe." He spoke smoothly to her and then he got to his feet and he walked away. Jack almost asked if someone had a bucket so he could throw up in it when he saw how Oliver acted sweetly and mollified.

Jack then too got to his feet and walked past the couple, back to Elsa.

**ELSA**

She saw how Jack walked out of the kitchen and the blonde walked to her husband and took his hand in hers, although she actually didn't want it and asked. "And? Any news?"

"Guess what, Victoria's boyfriend, Oliver, is the son of Pitch Black," Jack informed monotone, while he tangled his hand in hers although Elsa could see he was quite concerned.

"Pitch Black?! But I thought—"

"That he lives in England? Nope, he lived in the United States let me say in the LA area until 2004. He has presumably committed a shooting in San Francisco where a family was involved in, and then he moved for some reason to apparently New York. Until now everybody thought he had moved back to the U.K, since what on earth does he have to find here?!''

"They say he is the client now when it comes to crimes and not the murderer. He always knows how to dodge the ISA, me, and police," Elsa groaned through gritted teeth. She had three cases with him and all three were unsolved. It was how the ISA called it a 'cold case'.

"'He always knows how to dodge me', what do you mean Elsa?"

"I had a case with him five years ago, just when I had graduated from the ISA academy, but he won the case; I almost caught him but for some reason he'd managed to escape me, but not without injuries. I threw a knife to stop him, it hit him in his arm and I guess he has a huge scar there now. But, I didn't know he had a son, I mean who is his mother? Pitch is known for being endlessly single," she frowned with a little shrug.

"Don't forget Pitch is just his alias; his real name is James. But I don't trust that Oliver, plus we still have to find Hans here," Jack restlessly laid his hand on her shoulder and squeezed a bit. Elsa leaned against him and laid her head upon his collarbone. She was tired for some reason. She was playing around with his tie while she cupped her nose in his neck. He nuzzled in her hair and kissed her on the crown of her head. She had to admit it; they were a good team when it came to acting.

Jack looked up and turned around. Elsa wasn't prepared for this sudden movement so she almost fell, but she'd managed to keep her balance luckily.

"_Yes, Jack Frost and this is my wife Elsa_," she heard Jack saying almost in the background, now she was busy with fixing her hair and dress again by stroking her hands over them. Soon, her platinum blonde tresses were in place again and her dress was creaseless. Elsa looked up from her business and turned her head in the direction of the figure that stood in the corner of her eye.

She automatically held her hand out to shake hands, but she froze when she turned her head in the direction of the figure that was apparently a man to actually see who it was and how he looked.

"Nice to meet you, Hans Westerguard—" he stopped when both parties looked in each other's eyes. _Eh what?!_ Red hair, green eyes, about 1.90 long, pretty muscular... This was the same guy that she'd seen in the traffic jam one and a half months ago in that red Ferrari! She blushed and cast her eyes down. She turned crimson when she remembered how she showed her middle finger at him and behaved like a total bitch. And here she was, one and a half months later standing dumbly in front of him like a total idiot who couldn't speak.

This was Hans! Hans, the guy who was so good, gentle and her boss' favourite before she'd come to the ISA! She hadn't recognised him in the traffic jam but that was because he had changed so much. He was older, more business-like and there was this severity in his gaze. His green eyes were empty and cold. His body language was detached and he looked so dominant in a cocky way. Not at all how she remembered him. It was that he said he was Hans, but if he'd said his name was 'Hunter' or something, she would've never recognised that it was Hans. She was shocked when she saw the changed man who stood across her.

"Funny how people meet each other after all those years," he spoke thoughtfully, his eyes trailing down her body in this incisive way that she couldn't place. Her eyes narrowed meticulously in the crease because of it.

Jack moved his head to Elsa and looked questioning at her with a look that said 'you know this guy?' Elsa quickly shook her head in a way that said 'it's alright.' Her gut told her Hans couldn't be the good guy of all this. He was so fake with his 'gentleman smile'. She had to solve this case on her own, because she couldn't expect anything from Jack, thereby, not only did she wanted this promotion, no she needed it. Jack pulled her closer to him and she felt how her hip dug into his side. She understood they had to act, but this whole evening was just too much for her. She wanted him to get out of her personal space.

Elsa was still silent, actually not answering the redhead as Katherine, Michael and Jack watched the somehow awkward plight. Hans then parted his lips, his eyes darting from left to right for a moment as he spoke.

"So, I see you two are..."

"Married, yes." Jack ended his sentence. She could see in the corner of her eye how Hans raised amusedly in mocking suspicion an eyebrow. She wanted to go and search on her own for suspect things at this party, than talk about their drop-dead boring and actually _non-existing_ marriage. "We're so happy we are-" Elsa tried to loosen herself out of his tight grip, but Jack roughly pulled her back, still looking at Hans with a Prince Charming smile, so she collapsed into his chest. "_Together_. Aren't we, darling?" he said warningly, while he looked with the last word at her in a way of 'you aren't going anywhere.' He knew her plan, he knew everything. Elsa nodded in response with a strained smile.

"May I ask how you got to know Michael and Katherine?" Hans asked.

"We are close business partners, we like met them on a party from a good friends of us, and I'm currently working with him on a project,'' Jack lied flawlessly. Hans nodded, but then turned around when another man touched him on his shoulder. Jack hissed in her ear. "Listen _Beauty and the Brains_, I know your plan, but I can tell you one thing; you aren't going anywhere,'' Elsa smiled contrived back before turning her head away from him and she looked with a blank expression forward.

Hans turned himself again around. She saw how his eyes trailed down their hands. "Good that you are married, but where are therings?" Hans asked suspiciously as well resolutely. His apparent scrupulous gaze escaped not even the slightest detail.

Elsa felt how the colour drained away from her face. They'd totally forgotten to buy the rings. She looked for help at Jack by turning her head. She felt she had to say something and quickly. "Eh they are still being made. Custom made you know that takes a while. We've only been married for two months, but there is some, eh... delay," she improvised.

"Yes, like a ring with a blue sapphire," Jack began. Elsa asked herself what the hell he was doing. A guy like Hans would pay attention to that when they have the rings and if they weren't exactly going to be how he described it now, they had a problem.

"Excuse me, I see I'm being called, I'll be right back.'' Hans spoke absently while he stared at the screen of his iPhone. _'Hello Hans Westerguard, financial advisor of the Federal Reserve Bank, what can I do for you?''_ He spoke, now answering the phone, as he walked away.

When he turned around and was out of earshot, she said. "Jack, he doesn't believe us, I see it in his eyes.'' Elsa whispered in panic.

"It's going to be alright, Elsa."

"No, no it's not; he knows ISA people sometimes have to pretend they are married and stuff, since back when he worked for the ISA, the pilot projects were made, plus he probably suspects me from being at this party for the ISA!"

"Elsa, stop panicking, he doesn't have any evidence." Jack said on a calm way, but she heard the tension in his voice.

"Jack! He doesn't believe we are married!" She protested whispering.

"I'll make him believe." Jack whispered determined back, smirking from ear to ear. A cunning sparkle arose in his eyes and she had no idea what his plan was. Elsa and Jack quarrelled further until Hans walked back to them.

Elsa gulped when Jack threw her backwards out of nowhere, caught her by supporting her by her back. She looked for a millisecond in his eyes, seeing this devious sparkle in them and his blue orbs were filled with mischief. Before she could react he bended and his lips were on hers. She was kissing with Jack?! First, her eyes widened in shock by the sudden action of her husband, but she then relaxed and shut them. If they weren't in public, she would've given him a slap. She had to act the whole thing along, so she wrapped her arms around his neck. She smelled his heavy aftershave, mixed with that typical Abercrombie &amp; Fitch perfume. His messy hair touched her forehead.

She was quite shocked when she felt how his tongue sensually touched her lip, begging her for entrance. A shiver ran down her spine by the touch of his tongue. How stupid that she wanted to open her mouth out of protest, but Jack saw it as a sign that she also wanted a passionate kiss.

She felt how his tongue touched hers, how they glided over each other, in an unexplained dance, and how he sensually used all his Prince Charming skills to impress her. He definitely knew how to French Kiss a lady. His mint breath was mixed with the taste of the champagne they'd just drunk. She felt his messy hair that touched her fore head, his intrepid hands that glided up and down her back and it gave her slight giggles. She glided her hands up from his neck, and now ran through his messy hair and suddenly the whole situation made her feel nothing more but euphoric. She felt she was in heaven. He was a good kisser, he was gentle, but also dominant in a playful way. Their kiss was sensual and passionate. Their lips moved in sync, as she cupped with one hand his cheek, both lost in their moment.

But then she got back to present. She asked herself what the hell he was doing. This had to be an acting kiss, not some smarmy and cheesy _Romeo and Julia scene_. They broke apart, Her lips still tingling after their moment. They looked deep into each other's eyes, hers unwritten since she had no idea if she had to radiate anger or love with them.

Jack gave her a playful wink with his irresistible smirk. She felt like she could _flay_ him alive. How dare he kiss her with tongue! He looked up when Hans seemed amused, a sign of more convincement. Elsa sighed a bit in relief.

Consecutively, Hans walked away and disappeared into the small crowd of people. Elsa looked on the clock. Half past ten. She felt the fatigue bugging her but she had the idea she'd seen enough here. "Let's head home," she suggested.

Jack nodded. They said goodbye to Michael and Katherine, thanked them for the hospitality and five minutes later they walked towards their car as the street lanterns lit the street. Sometimes a yellow cab passed them in controlled speed. "This was a waste of our time; we don't know anything more of that Hans," he sulked, while he revealed his car keys and unlocked the car.

Elsa stepped into the car. "Yes, if you hadn't kissed me, he wouldn't have left," she said stubbornly while she closed the car door as soon when she stepped in.

Jack started the engine and drove away with screeching tires. She sighed heavily in annoyance when he didn't drive normal but accelerated like there was no tomorrow. "But if I hadn't kissed you, he would've never believed us anyway!" Jack snapped, defending himself.

Elsa rolled her eyes and looked at the pavement in front of her with crossed arms. "If I have to act one more day as your wife..." she began groaning through gritted teeth. She was sick of this. He was constantly in her personal space, was too soggy, just sticks his tongue in her mouth, but what irritated her most was that he didn't mean a fuck of all what he did. As long he could do his flirts, be the charming guy, Mr. Frost did what he wanted.

"Sweetheart_,_ we're stuck together for seven more months in one apartment, in one bed. So I wish you good luck. Thereby, you're making such a drama about a stupid kiss! You act like a nun and like a six-year old at the same time. Grow up and behave like a woman that is in the mid-twenties, not a teenager who doesn't know her place in life. We are not having this conversation," he spoke magisterially, while he ran his right hand through his hair –still steering with left- before he used it to clarify his talk.

"An acting kiss is without tongue, Jack!"

"Darling_,_ it's _acted_. Do you even know that word? It's _not real_. Everything has been put into scene," he shot resolutely as always back, raising his voice. He didn't look at her, but she saw that he did look in the corner of his eye at her as he drove.

Elsa chuckled in sarcasm. "Well I then you may prepare your _scenes_ better, because if I hadn't been there, you could've never saved yourself in the ring situation with Hans," she challenged menacingly back.

Jack turned to the right and they arrived at their apartment. "I'm getting so tired of your drama queen behaviour,'' he groaned as he pulled the car key out of the ignition before he stepped out of the car just like her.

"Why do you still even talk with me then?!"

"I won't," he spat at her as he slammed the car door so it shut.

"Fine," she said while slamming the car door as well.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

They walked into the lobby, straight to the lift. There hung a tense atmosphere. No one spoke to each other, no one looked at each other.

Elsa begged the upcoming seven months would pass quicker than this first month that had been nothing more but a burning inferno. But deep down, she knew she just had to sit, wait and learn how to deal with it. There was no real Jack, this was him, this was his real personality, this was his true self.

Right?


	10. Chapter IX The story behind the ring

**CHAPTER IX: Nyx**

**ELSA**

The next morning Elsa awoke by the light that came through the open curtains. The sun beam fell on her face and she blinked sleepily with her eyes. She turned around but then realised she had the bed for herself when she moved her leg to the right. There was one long two-person sheet, and Jack's side was flipped over to the side to reveal an empty space on the mattress. Glaring sirens of fire trucks, yellow cabs that pressed on their klaxons, and the sound of trees that were rocked by the wind in Central Park were heard in the distance of the oh so busy New York.

She turned over to Jack's side of the bed and decided to go back to sleep, or at least try to with the stinging light in her eyes. She muffled into his pillow and smelled the scent of his aftershave mixed with his Abercrombie &amp; Fitch perfume. He smelled like a man and she always went crazy when she smelled it. She hugged the pillow, still putting her nose in it and for one second, it almost felt like she was hugging him. She looked up with the thought but then shrugged, hugged it tighter as she nuzzled her nose in it with the assumption he wouldn't notice it anyway.

She crawled up into a ball, hugged the pillow and drifted off to sleep once more.

**JACK**

Typing was the only thing to be heard in the silent kitchen; Jack was doing research in the ISA database about Pitch Black, the possible criminal for the case. He hadn't forgotten that Oliver was the son of Pitch Black and the boyfriend of the daughter of the people who were the victims in this case. He just wanted to make sure he was; or damn wrong so that he had to learn himself stop prejudicing people because of their background, or he had to prove to himself once more in his life his gut feeling was just damn right as always.

He had read almost all news articles about the man, studied his ways of murdering, scamming, hacking, the cunning strategies he used, but he was convinced this man was as unpredictable as the weather in the month April; there was pattern to be found in his behaviour. Never did he make moves that were in some way chronological for a criminal who wanted to steal, murder or scam. There was nothing chronological in his behaviour, nothing but one thing that always happened after he had murdered someone;

He cut off a body part of someone.

Cases were; Brian Hale, his step-dad; murdered in 1988 by a gun. The body was found in his house. Missing body part; the index fingertip of his right hand. Motive; vengeance.

Next up was Lucy Cole, an old ex girlfriend who still owed him some money. Murdered in 2002 by a knife. Stabbed to death had been her fate; the blood traces and spots had been everywhere on the wall of her bedroom. On the wooden floor had the print of two hands covered in blood who were dragged down the floor been found; no wonder when he had first stabbed her in her stomach with his knife, the woman clutching her chest so her hands were then covered in blood, before he had grabbed her by her hair to pull her with him to her bedroom where her remains were found the day after. Autopsy had proven he had first beaten her, thrown her several times against a wall to then slit her wrists, before thank God, making an end to it. Lost body part; her left ear. Motive; vengeance.

Third murder case was a sixteen-year-old teen, Danique, who was murdered in 1990. The girl had been cycling home in the middle of the night after a party of one of her friends when James had grabbed her from behind when she cycled in a lonely place. He had pulled her into the nearby woods and raped her before strangling her with his bare hands. Danique had been the daughter of the chief of the police corps that had been after him. The body was found three days later in a nearby river. Missing body part; her whole left hand. Motive; vengeance.

Next murder case was the eighteen-year-old Eva, murdered in 1990 around the same time as Danique. The adolescent had been another daughter of one of the policemen that worked for the provincial police corps. James had made an end to the girl before he'd killed her dad afterwards. The wife of the man and mother of Eva hadn't been home so she was spared from the brute violence and death. Missing body parts of the two bodies; all of their pinkies. Motive; vengeance.

Then the last one was committed in 2004, where Pitch Black presumably murdered previously national ballet talent Aurelie Leroux, a twenty-nine year old woman. Nobody knows why he came to the house, what has happened, but the woman was shot and the body has never been found back. And even the gunshot is only a story, it was claimed by her four-year-old child who had seen everything. After the shooting the father of the child put the house on fire and now the girl is orphan. Motive; vengeance.

The case of 2004 is still a cold case. The police and the International Security Agency haven't been able to solve it, since there is lack of evidence and the only victim that is now approachable for interrogatory was back then the four-year-old child of Aurelie. Thereby, who would believe a child? The little girl claimed the man who shot her mum had black hair and a pale complexion and that made Pitch Black definitely a suspect person for this case, but there is once more no evidence. Also, because the body has never been found back there was also no way they could check if some body part of her was missing, what would immediately make him even more suspect. But right now everybody could've committed the crime.

He closed his eyes as he sighed a bit, the man rubbing the tear ducts of his eyes for a moment with his thumb and index finger to think deeply. He got everything straight and then made in his head a list of all the information he had. There was no one murdered this time but Pitch was also known for hacking. He couldn't have stolen the money just with some codes, since if he or whatever other criminal transferred the money to his or her own bank account than that should be seen on Michael's copies.

Michael had sent him yesterday some more information per mail about his bank account so Jack had all the information he needed when he wanted to check when and how much money was transferred to which bank account. After fifteen minutes he had the information he wanted. He was about to look at Michael's copies when it looked like the Internet shut down. He loaded the page several times, but it wouldn't load.

He had been all the time on the edge of his seat, the man feeling how the Adrenaline in his blood increased and he had almost felt a climax but the only thing he felt was a mini heart attack and a wave of disappointment engulfed him when the agent saw that all his work had been for nothing;

The page was hacked.

He inhaled sharply, knowing he could've known this deep down. The ISA was the best teacher when it came to learning their agents how to hack a system down. It didn't matter if it was about some security system, a page on the Internet or a whole website, he had a training in it two months ago and somehow he couldn't wait to turn theory into practice.

After half an hour of typing so fast in his excitement -so his fingers hurt- he had finally made sure the page was accessible. ''Like they say in the Netherlands; 'Je zal toch wat eerder uit je bed moeten komen om mij voor de gek te houden','' Jack whispered to himself before he brought the cup with coffee to his lips to sip some of it with a the widest smirk ever planted on his face. ''You can't trick me, James. Those days are over.''

He found within only a matter of time how in the end 6,900,000 dollars were transferred to an unknown bank account. He cursed out loud when he found out the apparent person who was connected to the bank account had hidden everything from IP address to name. He rolled so far with his eyes into the back of head that he was sure he could see what was behind him.

Dead end.

It was unable to track his or her name and computer what made the apparent person's location unreachable as well.

He looked up when Elsa walked out of the bedroom, her blonde hair in a messy bun. She wore some sweatpants, a simple shirt and she was barefoot. She yawned as she mumbled a 'hi'. ''Tell me what our master hacker is doing,'' she joked but his eyes widened when he heard the words.

''How do you know I'm hacking the whole system down?'' he asked suspiciously, the man turning in his seat to stare at her in suspicion. His eyes narrowed meticulously in the crease as they darted from head to toe over her being.

''Simple; you sitting on the edge of your seat bended so far with your head to your screen so that your nose almost touches it as you drink a good cup of espresso…,that can only mean one thing and that is that my husband is hacking the whole system down,'' she sighed nonchalantly before she gave him a quick playful wink before she walked to the kitchen island. He felt stalked. So Mrs. Frost had been staring at him. ''Is there yogurt?'' she continued undisturbed as she pulled some cupboards open to take stock of the food they had.

''Yeah it's in the freezer,'' he answered absently as his finger traced over his lips. Within five minutes Elsa had made her breakfast; yogurt with honey and cashew nuts in it, plus she had grabbed an apple from the fruitbowl and as drink she drank vanilla soya milk.

''That you even like vanilla soya milk, I think it's disgusting,'' he grinned. Elsa was drinking her soya milk and when she put her empty glass on the dining table, she moved her sleeve to her lips to wipe her moustache off before she spoke. ''This is ten thousand times better than cow milk. You know that actually after your fifth the human body is transformed like that, that milk isn't good for you anymore. Sure it has calcium and such in it, and from time to time a glass is absolutely okay, but our digestive system actually can't handle milk,'' she rattled like she was again some health expert as she rolled her eyes like she spoke 'that's obvious'.

She sounded like a walking encyclopedia.

''Cool you know that,'' he mumbled. Elsa raised coldly her eyebrow upwards when his sentence had sounded rather monotone. ''Hey no sarcasm, I'm just busy!'' he defended himself.

"By the way, let's buy some wedding rings today," he suggested and he looked up to meet her gaze.

She raised an eyebrow at him in question but then nodded.

An hour later they arrived at an exclusive jewellery store. Jack had been searching for one that was close to their apartment. Elsa looked up when she saw a little but expensive jewellery store. This had to be a family business that had been here for ages, but it looked quite modern with the watches, rings, and necklaces in the window. She saw the name of the family 'Lucardis' but the store was called Pure apparently.

"Smile and wave, baby, smile and wave,'' Jack whispered huskily as well immaculate in her ear.

They entered the jeweller's store. A soft bell greeted them when they stepped inside, hand in hand.

Elsa looked around. A huge counter made of white marble was to be seen with a mirror on it and under the surface of the counter was a glass window built in with all kinds of rings in it. Everywhere in the store were rings and necklaces placed behind perfectly patched glass. Most of the times there were diamonds inlaid in the beautiful pieces to resemble their wealth.

"Hello! How can I help you?" A voice that carried British accent with itself was to be heard. The couple looked up when a man walked into the store out of some back building. He was probably around seventy-five years old and because of that his tresses were grey. His svelte posture made him look taller than he actually was. The man wore tiny glasses and a light blue blouse under his chequered sweater. It suited his features, just like the wrinkles around his eyes. He looked very friendly and was quite fit for his age. This had to be the jeweller of the store.

He smiled widely at them.

"You must be Mr….?-''

''Lucardis,'' the man spoke smiling.

''Ah, yes Mr. Lucardis, my fiancée and I would like to buy our wedding rings," Jack began, while pointing to Elsa with the word 'fiancée'.

The man's corners of his mouth lifted into a smile filled with mirth as he spoke, his crystal clear blue eyes widening in his increasing interest. "Ah! A soon to be married couple, how nice. Well, have you got anything in mind? Any wishes, ideas?"

"Yes, we have got something in mind, right, honey?" Elsa asked, while looking at Jack. She decided to take the lead and she stepped forward, her chin slightly lifted. "Well, I was thinking, maybe you have a ring made out of silver with diamonds inlaid in it?" she asked nonchalantly, referring back to the ring Jack described in Hans' presence yesterday evening. Jack poked her in her waist, reminding her that he would pay them and that it wasn't the plan that this was about to become a ten thousand dollar dollar bill. But she remembered that he'd misspoken himself in front of Hans and now he'll pay the price —literally— and she was convinced it was the best feeling she'd known.

The vengeance of love was malicious but oh so good.

"Of course, I have a silver ring with diamonds in it, follow me," the man smiled and they walked together to the marble counter. The man pulled a drawer out of the counter to reveal all kinds of rings in the drawer, one even more beautiful, or more expensive than the other one.

"Oh look Jack! This one is so beautiful!" she smiled while pointing at a golden ring that had a pastel pink diamond in it with all kinds of diamonds inlaid around it. He looked at the price tag.

_Four thousand dollars._

'No, she doesn't have an expensive taste at all,' a voice in his head scoffed. He had enough money and to be honest, he didn't even care about the price tag. But what he_ did_ care about was that Elsa was just playing games with him. "Elsa, my love, did you see how much it costs?" he whispered through gritted teeth in her ear.

She moved her head in his direction with a smoulder and puppy dog eyes. "But Jack_,_ I want our marriage to be perfect, and I love you so much!"

"Dear,'' he began in whisper tone, his eyes incisive as he grit his teeth. ''did you see how much it costs?" he repeated with an authoritative look, the man now almost groaning.

"_Jackie_!" she begged with a princess smile. 'Oh hell no, no _'Jackie,'_ a voice in his head sighed heavily. "You do love me, right?" she asked in a bittersweet way, while she wrapped her arms around his neck as she nuzzled in the crook of it. She trailed her red painted nails over his tie, playing around with it. He simultaneously asked himself if she just couldn't just back off and leave him alone.

"Of course I love you! I love you to the end," he spoke in endearment with a smarmy smile and he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the crown of her head. A tear ran down Elsa's cheek. He knew he'd said to her she should get acting lessons, but he was convinced this was crossing the damn line. He sighed heavily, before looking at the jeweller. Mr. Lucardis smiled with a wink. "You know what? Let's forget the price tag. I love you, so I buy anything for you, whatever it is. Choose a ring and I'll follow you."

Elsa looked up, with a 'surprised' expression. "R-really?" she asked almost harrowing, while letting out a last sob. She wore a smoulder, but her eyes sparkled deviously, cheeks getting a shade of rouge he somehow couldn't resist as he saw how this angel showed its true devil inside. "Yes, really," he smiled fake, while stroking a strand of hair behind her ear. He quickly dug his nail in her skin. In return, Elsa almost gave him a hiss, but she concealed herself.

He _adored_ it to annoy her.

He pulled her in for a kiss. It was dispassionate, the feeling was empty, and they both frowned. They soon broke apart. She was a good kisser, but it was forced. Jack again turned himself to the jeweller. "Sir, have you got something…well...like a silver ring with a _blue_ diamond in it?" Jack asked as nonchalantly as possible, now adding a colour to the question since Elsa had only said 'a ring with diamonds'.

Mr. Lucardis frowned a bit before his eyes averted from the couple. There fell a taciturn and somehow nerving silence and Jack raised an eyebrow when a cold atmosphere arose like an ice wall between the jeweller, him and Elsa in one swift second. Elsa and Jack exchanged suspicious gazes. "Yes, I have one in the back building, but…I don't know if…" the jeweller trailed off with his sentence, his voice dying away, and it was clear his common sense was working in the third gear whether he should continue his sentence or not.

"If what?" Jack and Elsa asked in unison, while raising an eyebrow in suspicion. They both gave each other a quick glance when they saw the tensed body language of the man, as whose face was radiating diffidence and the look that was planted on the old man's face made them both getting a certain gut feeling that severe things were up. He suddenly looked very serious. The jeweller casted his eyes down, sighed but then walked away to disappear into the back building. "If you shooed him, I swear you have problems," Elsa whispered in her confusion, while never averting her gaze from the door where the man had passed through. Jack ignored her, not having the plan to start a quarrel in public space with his _lovely wife_.

After two minutes waiting in silence the man came back with a deep sea blue box in his hands that was padded with this well-known soft material that made you feel like you were petting an animal with a soft, yet rough coat. He walked behind the counter, placed the box on it and opened the blue coloured object. It was exactly the ring they were searching for; a silver glow shrouded the ring, the reflection clear as moonlight. In the heart of the ring was one blue sapphire diamond placed between four little so-called 'claws' that held the diamond in place. There hid a dark shimmering in the gem and for some reason the shivers ran down his spine. He moved his head to Elsa, whose face was unwritten, but it seemed she thought and felt the same as him underneath her façade.

The ring had a side so dark that even the sun couldn't shine on it, the ring had a history of Nyx. It was hauntingly beautiful with the serenity and wealth that it resembled. In the inside of the ring was something engraved in Greek.

'μια φορά κι έναν Δεκέμβρι' and then once more on the other side of the inside of the ring there could be read in Latin '_Quondam super a December'_.

Mr. Lucardis sighed wistfully, before facing him and Elsa, his blue eyes watery. His lips parted and he spoke, his voice soft, fragile and filled with emotion. "Look, this ring…it has a past. A very tragic and grim past."

"Tell us," Jack demanded business-like in a somehow magisterial tone that was CEO worthy, as the fella lifted his chin. Attempts were made to try to translate all what was engraved in a calligraphic handwriting, but in vain, she could only read 'December' and that ruled for the Latin engraving, not for the Greek; he had never followed Greek or Latin lessons.

"Eleven years ago there was a man here. I remember every person who has bought something at my store; I have a good memory. Anyway, he wanted to propose his wife. He already had a four-year-old child with the woman, and apparently, he brought his sweet daughter with him. I remember her red hair and her shimmering green eyes which were like a starry sky. She was cute to see with narrow lips curved into a gracious smile and it was such an adorable child." Jack raised an eyebrow when he heard how the man could tell everything in detail about a costumer and a child who came here eleven years ago. He looked to the side to meet Elsa's face, but she was busy following the story.

"He came from San Francisco, but he took his girlfriend and child on a holiday to New York, here. He came here to buy a ring for his girlfriend just like I said, and together with his daughter, who was allowed to choose with him a ring for 'mama', they chose which ring it was going to be. He found one and bought it. This one," the jeweller spoke on a serious tone, while he held it between his fingers.

Jack was mesmerised by its beauty, as well the jeweller so to see and most of all Elsa who was locked with her gaze to the dark shimmer of the ring, her eyes staring tenaciously at the crystal clear stone which was the hardest material of all stones and gems, made by mother nature herself. Jack looked at the blue sapphire ring. It was beautiful, but he knew this ring had a painful past. It was hiding something beneath its shimmering and innocent look.

"I thought that I would never see, neither hear of them, but I was wrong; not even a week later I saw something in the newspaper 'The Guardian'. As you can probably hear, I'm British so I read the British newspaper," the man smiled softly although he frowned a bit.

"Why would American news appear into an English newspaper? I mean we don't know what's happened to this man, his girlfriend and the child, but I don't think this news would reach international sources," Jack said business-like, before raising suspiciously an eyebrow at the jeweller.

"You don't understand Mr.—I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Frost."

"I don't think you understand Mr. Frost, the man or actually the criminal in this case was British, or at least that's what they say either assume,"

Elsa and Jack turned their heads to look at each other, Jack's eyes resembling a shiver of fear when he heard the criminal was British. He knew too well someone who could perfectly fit that description and he hoped that would be nothing more but untrue.

Pitch Black.

''But sir, I'm interested in what's happened to the family and I'm even more interested in what a family has to do with this criminal." Elsa spoke, now attentively listening. She restlessly wrapped her arms around Jack's waist and laid her head upon his shoulder, almost trying to find comfort in him he had the idea.

"It's a tragic story as I said. I sold the beautiful ring to the man and have never heard of him as I assumed she had said 'yes' to his proposal, but then I heard it: it was a regular Saturday morning, to be exact, the 17th July, 2004 and it was a week after he bought the ring at me,"

"I just sat behind this counter, reading 'The Guardian', when I saw the huge front page '_P. Black rips family apart in tragic shooting._' I remember how I'd raised my eyebrow when I read it. P. Black, also known as Pitch Black, the infamous criminal whose past is as dark as the Nyx, was searched by the UK as well USA after he's committed several crimes.''

He studied the man. He was a kind person and he may be old, but it was clear he didn't forget anything. His white hair and wrinkles didn't seem to bother his knowledge as well his memory apparently.

"The article was about a happy family that lived in San Francisco. For some reason, this Pitch had a good reason for visiting this family. Nobody knows why he came there, nobody knows what his purpose was. He came what was back then for me yesterday, or what we now would call Friday the 16th of July, to the house in the late evening. The article said the man, one of the victims, was just engaged and that he had a four-year-old daughter. Well what has actually happened is a thing no one knows, but Pitch has shot the man's girlfriend and for the child her mother, also known as Aurelie Leroux. There are even rumours Pitch was about to kill the little girl too."

Elsa gasped in shock, and moved her head to him. He felt nauseous when he heard the story and frowned. "Well, fortunately he didn't shoot her and to be honest, I don't want to make an image of that in my head. God knows what has been said that evening, God knows what Pitch has done to them, but eventually the father of the child and Pitch teamed up, set the house on fire—"

"Wait what's happened to the four-year-old?" Elsa interrupted the man quickly.

"Well, after she was left in the fire, her father didn't save to or take her with him for some reason and now the girl has no parents anymore. She is an orphan now. Luckily, the police and fire fighters were able to save the little girl, or well that's what the newspapers say."

"And…that woman Aurelie? Has she survived it?" Jack asked softly, as he cocked his head slightly to the side in interest.

"She has been shot once, there was one gun shot if we have to believe the neighbours who'd heard it. I eventually heard the body of Aurelie, the woman Pitch has shot, has never been found back. We don't know if she lives. Nothing has been found back, not even human ashes after the house had been burned down to the ground. Nothing has been found back, but this ring, this ring that was for his wife. His proposal ring."

A silence.

Jack looked once more at the ring, not wanting to know what the diamond had reflected in the reflection of the stone that terrible night. That night, when its owner had been shot down and when it was left to burn down along with the flames, but someone, something had saved the diamond, had saved the goodness in it, although it had gotten a ominous shimmer after that one night to seal it with perpetual darkness.

"A day later when I read the news item a man came back to my store. It was the same man who was in that shooting. But he came back without his daughter. I wanted to ask him where she was, but he didn't answer me."

The jeweller sighed before speaking and he buried his face for a second in his hands and when he looked up, Jack could see how watery his blue eyes were. Before they knew it, Mr. Lucardis was almost crying.

"I will never forget the moment when he finally looked in my eyes. They were so empty, so soulless. He was first such a kind man, a beautiful father, and he was so caring, but after that shooting he's changed. No wonder, his wife has probably been murdered and his child is orphan now. Even now eleven years later, I don't know why he didn't bring his daughter with him, I don't know his real story, I don't know what has happened at the sixteenth of July, I don't know! Then he disappeared as it looked like he vanished into air, since I've never seen neither heard of him ever again. I pray for the child who didn't deserve any of this, I really do.''

It looked like this was all the man could tell them, but Jack decided to keep asking.

''How did you get the ring in possession again?''

"The man brought the ring back to me. He didn't say much, only that he didn't want it anymore. I first thought that maybe Aurelie had said 'no' to his proposal, but when I asked it, the man chuckled with mock as he said she did say 'yes' to him but that the vengeance of love had torn them apart. He was so heartless and so empty. I almost startled from it. He said he never wanted to see the ring again ever again. It hurts too much I guess when he had to look at it. I could only nod, because I didn't want to protest, since I had almost become scared of him with his piercing and ruthless gaze." Mr. Lucardis closed his eyes, his hands slightly trembling. Jack knew his thoughts were back with the exact moment.

When the jeweller opened his eyes, he looked at him and Elsa. "And now here I am, eleven years later and I still have the ring. Every time I look at it, I feel nauseous. It has a terrible past, a terrible story behind it, the truth is still laying in the shadows, but I don't want to be remembered of it ever again. Never."

Jack stared at the blue diamond that lay in the hand of the jeweller. It was so beautiful, but now he heard the story behind it, it gave him chills. He asked himself why the story had to disturb the serenity and beauty it had radiated once. It was silent for a few seconds while Jack processed all the information he'd gotten the past minutes before Elsa spoke to break the silence.

"Jack, dear, could I speak you please?"

"Of course."

Elsa gave the jeweller a quick princess smile, before pulling Jack with her outside. "Why don't we help the jeweller? He wants to get rid of this ring, we buy it, then after six months we just dump it somewhere in the middle of nowhere because we aren't married and everybody lives happily ever after!" Elsa exclaimed with an innocent smile, now she told him her master plan.

Jack thought for a moment, thinking of all what could possibly go wrong but when his thoughts couldn't come up with a thing he nodded. "Deal," he sighed. He took his hands in hers and together they walked into the shop again. The jeweller looked up.

"Sir, we want to buy this ring," Jack announced determined, while gesturing to Elsa with 'we'. They held hands, and Elsa laid her head on his shoulder, nodding with him.

The jeweller looked up, his eyes widened and he gasped. "Oh, Mr. Frost, I don't know if you want that-"

"We want to," Elsa insisted him. "There may be a terrible story behind it, but its okay, we can handle it."

Mr. Lucardis raised an eyebrow for a second in his slight suspicion, but then nodded. "Thank you so much. I can give you discount on it if you want."

"I won't say 'no' to that," Jack smirked cunningly, while he leaned on the counter.

Ten minutes later they paid the ring and walked together while holding hands out of the store. He could see Elsa looked at her hand, to her ring. It shone in the daylight and the deep blue colour was splendid. You had blue lagoon blue, coastal blue, pelagic blue, but he could describe this exact colour as where you crossed the border of the so-called the Twilight or Mesopelagic Zone to enter the Midnight or Bathypelagic zone in an ocean like the Pacific.

"Do you like it?" he asked monotone and he turned his head to meet her eyes, which had the exact colour of the sapphire he noticed now. Elsa's were Twilight Blue, and Astrid, both their best friend who was also an agent for the ISA academy, had these bright blue lagoon eyes.

"Yes, I love the ring," she smiled and he could see it was genuine. "There is a sad story behind it, but for some reason, the ring has something I can't place and I call it beauty," Elsa noticed thoughtfully, while looking at it. Jack had to admit it, the ring fit her perfectly and it gave her even more classiness. They held hands and he moved his thumb over her hand, rubbing it softly, while never averting his gaze from it.

He cleared his throat before speaking determinedly.

"Let's go to Michael and Katherine tomorrow; I want to find out who has taken the codes from the safe."


	11. Chapter X fingerprints

**CHAPTER 10: Fingerprints**

**ELSA:**

The next morning Elsa awoke by the alarm clock Jack had set earlier. She raised in panic when the painful noise shrieked in her ears. She turned her head in the direction of the alarm clock and looked at it to see what time was displayed. _9:00 A.M._ "Jack! Turn it off!" She demanded bossy, but Jack was so tired he literally slept through it. He was lightly snoring and Elsa thought it was cute how he looked with his mouth half open, hair messy and she knew in the morning it was as untameable as his vivacious personality while his arm was laying somewhere across the mattress. An aggravated groan escaped the agent's lips when her colleague slept through it. She let herself fall backwards to land with her back on the mattress again, before she consecutively rolled over to his side, made her way through her Berlin wall of pillows and poked him in his waist. "Jack!" He didn't move.

She sighed heavily, crawled upon him, one leg on one side of his waist and one on the other side as she noticed he again refused to wear a shirt, so he only wore his sweatpants. "Jack! Wake up!" She raised her voice to overpower the glaring sound that the alarm clock made, before grabbing her pillow and she began to beat him roughly with it, while bouncing up and down so the whole mattress moved with them as well as the bed plus Jack.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Elsa exclaimed, while beating the sleeping agent with her pillow. Jack groaned softly in his sleep before turning around with her on top, but Elsa couldn't keep her center of gravity so she fell on his side of the bed.

"Jack wake _uwp_-" She mumbled the last words as they were unintelligible, since her husband had placed a hand on her mouth, still closing his eyes.

"Stop talking, stop moving, stop breathing_._" He groaned annoyed as well grumpy, while rolling over to his stomach before he placed consecutively his pillow over his head to prevent that the shrieking sound the alarm clock made couldn't reach his ears as well her whining in his opinion.

"Finally! _Snoring Beauty_ is awake." She sighed in relief on a dramatic tone. "Come on Jack, you need to get up and stop the alarm!" She demanded.

"Firstly, I do not snore, secondly, snooze the damn thing by yourself." He protested from under the pillow, but it was all muffled away, while he searched blindly for the alarm clock. After several miss-grabbings, he finally managed to let it stop by pushing the snooze button in. She sighed aggravated when he turned around on his side with his back to her, while nuzzled in his sheets, thinking he could doze off to sleep again.

Irritated, she grabbed the pillow from under his head and threw it roughly across the room to God knows where. "Jack Frost, the alarm clock went off! And I don't have to try to step one minute later out my bed because then you snap at me there is a thing called like 'work', so the same rule goes for you!" She yelled with a hoarse voice since it was still morning and she knew it wasn't at its best then. She grabbed his sheets and flipped them over to her side. Jack hugged himself quickly as he crawled up into a ball when he felt how his warm bed was being replaced for the cold, air-conditioned room. She stepped out of bed, walked over to his side, grabbed his left arm that hung next to his bed since he was laying on the edge now and pulled him out of it, as he stumbled with her.

Jack wailed a bit, but she didn't care. "Someone here is on her period."

"I am not on my period!" She lied protesting, while pointing a finger at him.

Jack raised an amused eyebrow at her as he crossed his arms. "Oh really? No, you definitely don't look as pale as snow, constantly wrap your arms around your tummy and behave like you're having a shortage of chocolate." He stated with a mocking smirk, before turning his back to her to walk consecutively to the kitchen to have breakfast. She sighed heavily as she was almost scared that this guy had a sixth sense. Elsa dressed herself and walked into the kitchen where Jack was making pancakes apparently. She sat down at the dining table, waiting for them to arrive since she assumed he was making breakfast for her as well. She checked her phone and now saw that Anna tried to call her. She raised an eyebrow while she asked herself why. She opened Whatsapp and sent a message to her sister.

**Elsa:** **Hey sis, you tried to call me, what's wrong?** _Sent at 7-28-15 at 9:25_

She sighed as she clicked the snooze button and her screen turned black, while laying her phone on the dining table.

**JACK:**

Jack walked to her with a plate stacked with pancakes balancing on one of his hands. He put it down in front of her with a thud. "For _Mrs. PMS_-"

Elsa shot a mortifying death glare at him before speaking boldly. "I am not on my period." She again defended herself, crossing her arms. "By The Way, Jack get the chocolate syrup for me—"

"Here! You see: _chocolate_!" He said relentless, before walking to the kitchen to get chocolate syrup for the Princess. He walked back and put it on the table with a thud. "Here you are. Any special wishes? Does our Princess want to be personally fed by the one and only Prince Charming Jack Frost?" He asked with a British accent, ready to serve madam, while wiggling immaculately with his eyebrows.

"Prince Charming? _Prince Douchebag_ you mean." She scoffed harshly back with narrowed eyes, before slicing her pancake willful on her own, since Jack had offered to feed her personally.

The corners of his mouth lifted to reveal his white teeth as he laughed. "_Sweetie_, my edit give credit. That was my joke, don't steal. Haven't your parents ever taught you that?" He inquired, while he knelt down and leaned with his arms on the dining table as he lifted one corner of his mouth to reveal the irresistible smirk that had almost become his trademark lately.

"I'm not your '_Sweetie'._" She said stubbornly now they weren't in the presence of someone so they didn't have to act, while she poured a mountain of chocolate syrup on her pancake.

"_PMS pervert."_ He groaned.

"_Stubble head_.'' She shot back without looking up, before stuffing her mouth stubbornly with pancake, the corners of her mouth dropping as she frowned although she felt she had to suppress a giggle.

Insulting your husband could actually be quite fun.

* * *

They sat in the car on the way to Mr. and Mrs. Smith and they were busy with talking. "Okay, so suspected people for this case: That Hans is actually the only person we have a clue about, although I also don't trust Oliver. But now the question is: How are we going to find out who has broken into that safe?" Jack mumbled, his eyes looing absent although his voice was determined, while driving through the Avenues and streets of The Big Apple. He ran a hand through his hair in his indistinction.

Elsa was checking her phone. He saw in the corner of his eye and heard she got an incoming call. And what she did next was just unbelievable in his opnion. She answered it although he was talking to her and that irritated him a lot.

"Elsa I was talking to you." He groaned aggravated, while moving his head to her. Couldn't she just show him some respect and reverence?

"Hey Anna!" She said happily, ignoring him with a fake Princess smile. He rolled with his eyes. "What?" Elsa gasped so to hear in surprise, but the corners of her lips were curved into a smile so it had to be good news. "Oh that's so sweet! I can't believe it Anna!" She smiled vivaciously. "How did he-" Elsa was interrupted and listened further to the conversation. Jack turned his head in her direction, with a questioning look. He heard a happy voice, kind of yelling and fangirling on the other side of the line as the agent asked himself who Anna was for God's sake. "Me? Godmother? But Anna you are not even-" He heard she was cut off. "What? Did he say that? And when are you planning that then?"

"Elsa what's happening?!" He whispered in his incomprehension through gritted teeth, but Elsa shushed him with narrowed eyes, before putting on a smile again.

"Yes, I'll call mum, or no you have to do that, it's your case, not mine," Elsa said seriously although she giggled for a second. "Okay, love you. Bye." She hung up and he saw her eyes were gloating.

"Okay Elsa, here I have two questions for you; why are you answering a phone while I am talking to you? And who the fuck is Anna?" He turned to the right and stopped in front of a traffic light that had just jumped on red.

"It was important! And Anna is my baby sister!" She said seriously with an innocent smile.

"_Baby sister_?" He asked abstemious, while moving his head to her, not amused.

"She is three years younger than me, but as kid I always said Anna is my baby sister and now we still say it." Elsa shrugged bluff.

"And what was so important then?" He asked with a bored sigh, while he ran a hand through his messy hair. He accelerated and drove away when the traffic light had become green again.

"Kristoff proposed her! And that's not the only thing-"

"Whoa, whoa wait. Kristoff Bjørgman, our colleague?! Is your sister having a relationship with Kristoff Bjørgman? Was that the Norwegian girl he couldn't stop talking about when I spoke to him in Canada?" Jack asked confusedly, referring to a training he had where he'd seen Kristoff again after months.

Elsa smiled nodding, while crossing complacent her arms. "Yes, that's my sis." She said in dignity and endearment, proudly lifting her chin and Jack thought this was once more good evidence that the world was smaller than he thought.

"Anyways, he proposed her, a thing that is so sweet and yesterday evening they have been seriously thinking about kids!" She said smiling brightly as Jack stayed cold, his face unwritten. "Maybe I'm going to be an aunt!" Elsa added, hoping he would get the hint now finally although he'd already gotten it after the first time she said it.

Jack whistled softly on a mocking tone. "Eh Elsa, do they know where they're talking about?"

"I beg you pardon." Elsa asked confused.

"Kids can make or break your marriage and unfortunately I have experience with the second one." He didn't look at her. He stared at the pavement in front of him that was close to burning hot since the Sun had shone down upon it the whole day, as he looked how the tireless tourists lounged over the zebra crossing in front of him, carrying their backpacks with them, while their wailing children were following them, whining for an ice cream in this hot weather that made them feel like snowmen on Summer.

He lowered the window and regretted it immediately when he felt how a wave of heat attacked him. The only way to escape it was finding a place with good air conditioning and most of the time that was a car or a house, but outside was no option at all. He couldn't understand how the tourists could hold on with these temperatures and then to top it all even outside and what he didn't understood at all was why these die-hard hooligans didn't just book a trip to some tropic island like Hawaii or Bali to sit down, relax, go swimming in the sea and order Piña Coladas at the pool bar, in stead of walking in a stuffy city like this as total idiots to admire concrete skyscrapers for fucks sake that wouldn't walk away even if you'd wanted it so bad in the words of they could also visit New York in the Indian Summer, a nickname for the period that resembled the transition between Summer and Autumn, when the temperatures were far better than this burning hell.

He saw in the corner of his eye that she moved her head in his direction, questioning. "Jack where are you talking ab-"

"Never mind." He groaned quickly, while moving his head in her direction. "Anyway, how are we going to see who has broken into that safe?"

"Already thought about that, Mr. Frost." Elsa said self-complacent with a confident smile. "I'm going to search for any fingerprints on that safe, which you know is behind that colourful painting, and you are going to check Michael' security camera which is situated in the corridor " She ended, while flipping the mirror flap above her head open and looking at herself as he again wanted to make a comment on her vanity but he held it back to prevent them from quarrelling again.

Jack looked up. Someone here had made a whole plan. "This guy placed a security camera in the corridor? Why? His safe is behind a painting so it's quite obvious no one will ever discover it!"

"Jack, this man is a billionaire and a lot of people are eager to get his capital of money." Elsa said matter-of-factly like she was the expert here. He didn't know what to answer. "You've brought your MacBook with you, I assume? And it's connected to the ISA's database, right?" Elsa continued business-like, while closing the mirror flap above her head.

"Yes, always _Darling _I've brought it with me, why?" He sighed a bit, while he marched. He quickly reduced speed a few seconds after, before he would get a warning glare from her that said he was driving too fast as always.

"Well, then I can check whose fingerprint it is and you can look on your computer to the security camera video." She shrugged nonchalantly, but he saw in the corner of his eye she wore a self-complacent smirk where _even Victoria_ couldn't compete with.

Elsa was becoming more dominant lately, but he kind of liked it. She was cute, but on the inside a true rebel hid inside her. He gambled that her center was Freedom. North, his boss, had taught him once what it was, his center. There was a test you could pass if you'd wanted to, and because of this test, you got to know who you are, and what your 'goals' and 'purposes' are in life, as well as on the ISA in the context of cases.

Elsa searched for something in her bag and inserted a disk in it, and Jack could read the title 'This Game by some Elske DeWall. Seconds later the music was played.

**(A/N) You can put the song on as you read.**

_When the city clouds are fading, the sticky heat will melt your skin and all your tempting lies_

Jack looked up from driving while he raised amusedly his eyebrows.

_Everybody thinks I'm crazy, but I'm only on the run for one more soul to die_

Elsa also moved her head in his direction, cocking an eyebrow at him. Jack listened to the lyrics while he drove through the avenues of New York, occasionally turning.

_With every single breath I'll take, will I unfold a big mistake; I'm chained to your games._

"Good song huh?" Elsa smiled nice while she lifted the corners of her lips so a smirk was spread across her face. Jack listened further as he ignored her.

_And everything around me moves, there's nobody here to undo the pain,_

_But you won't get away with murder._

"Yeah, it's a good song." He mumbled, now drumming along with his fingers on the steering wheel.

_Everybody thinks I'm stronger, but I'm lonely and confused about something, you'll never believe._

Elsa mumbled along just like him.

_So I don't move and get it wrong, that I quickly hesitate now that you're one more bottle away._

Elsa sang along with the music now and he had to admit it was very good. Normally he hated it when people sang along in the car with music but Elsa was good at this!

_With every single breath I take will I unfold a big mistake, I'm chained to your games._

_And everything around me moves, there's nobody here to undo the pain, but you won't get away with murder,_

Elsa knew the whole song and also sang the bridge

_Well if that gun will come undone, I'll be strong to hit and run, with every breath that I'll take, will I unfold a big mistake_

_I know that I'll make it right before it all weighs down, tempting lies, no compromise but I will still be chained for life._

_With every single breath I take will I unfold a big mistake, I'm chained to your games. And everything around me moves, there's nobody here to undo the pain,_

_but you won't get away with murder no, today._

Elsa's thoughts dozed off in the present to take place for flashbacks. Violent flashbacks of all she had done, all she had been through. Shootings filled her mind as she remembered her hair flowing down with her when she ducked, trying to dodge a bullet that tried to penetrate her heart, give a criminal the vengeance he had been waiting for, for years, but she didn't let the bullet engrave 'vengeance' on her heart. She remembered how some criminals had put their gun to the side of her head, taking her as their hostage in their fake remorse, since victory's contagious, but every time she'd won from them, every time she was the one who celebrated victory in the end.

_With every single breath I take_ _will I unfold a big mistake,_

_I'm chained to your games._

_And everything around me moves,_  
_there's nobody here to undo the pain,_

_but you won't get away with murder, no, today._

* * *

**ELSA:**

Twenty minutes later, they stood in front of Michael and Kathrine's door. Elsa knocked on the door, while she held a silver coloured suitcase in her hand where all the things were in to search for fingerprints.

Victoria herself opened the door and her green eyes pierced through the split of the door. The corners of her mouth dramatically dropped when she saw them as her lips narrowed. "You two again." She groaned heartedly in her undiminished hate for them while her narrowed green eyes shot a quick glare, but she took a step backwards and pulled with a heavy and reluctantly sigh the door further open to let them in-not willingly but she knew she would get more house arrest if Michael and Kathrine would discover she slammed the door once more in the faces of the detectives-.

"I see you are training yourself to behave, did your parents send you to puppy training-" Jack wailed in pain when Elsa stepped subtle, but hard on his foot while looking at Victoria with an innocent Princess smile.

Victoria raised coldly an eyebrow at him and a cold shimmering appeared in her eyes. Elsa flinched a bit when she saw it. For some reason, it almost looked like she enjoyed it when people bowed down for her, took a step to the side, casted their eyes down and obeyed. It was like she felt powerful when she'd managed to that, only with this look.

Elsa realized he had been staring impudently the whole time at the sixteen-year-old, looking at her from head to toe, reading her body language, although it was pretty hard because she was so detached and Elsa didn't want to 'get caught'. She always tried to read her when she was in her presence but it was so hard. Victoria didn't back off. She lifted her chin and warningly narrowed her eyes that Elsa had to back off. It was clear she didn't like it when people tried to get into her personal space or read her body language.

They heard footsteps on the corridor and Michael walked in. His eyes widened when he saw his personal detectives. "Oh Elsa, Jack, what a surprise! I can't remember that we've made an appointment." Michael said quite surprised with a tone of resolution in it while his eyes widened a bit. Like this guy had something to hide.

Elsa finally managed to avert her gaze from Victoria's piercing, but most of all, hypnotizing gaze and turned herself to Michael. "Yes, we know, but Jack and I can't wait very long. We're spending eight months here in New York and we also want to solve it in the given time." Victoria had walked out of the corridor in the meantime, not interested in the adult stuff and the tense atmosphere immediately disappeared.

Michael nodded understanding. "I agree, I agree, well, where do you want to talk about—"

"No talking today I'm afraid. We would like to see your safe again." Elsa said resolute and determined, now going back to business, while tilting her chin and giving Michael an intense gaze.

Michael ran a hand through his well styled brown hair. "Of course, you know where it is, I shall open it for you." He spoke friendly, while folding his hands.

"No, I only need to see it. If you could move the painting away for me, please.'' Elsa requested business-like and emotionless, while crossing her arms. Michael nodded, moved the painting away so the safe was to be seen. "Thank you, my husband will be needing the tape from the security camera." Elsa continued soberly, while wrapping her arm around his waist. Jack nodded affirmatively as it surprised her he didn't mind that she was taking the lead in the conversation and the case now.

"How did you know there's a security camera here?" Michael asked suspiciously, as well surprised while he raised an eyebrow.

"Very simple, when we came here for the second time, I saw..." She pointed to the little security camera that hung in the corner of the corridor. ''That security camera. I thought, well, you are very rich and will do everything to keep unwanted people out of your safe and if they break into it, you have evidence." She proudly lifted her chin and cocked an eyebrow at Michael in a way that said 'am I right?'. A silence fell, Michael' face clearly astonished as his eyes slightly widened. Michael and astonished was a combination she knew you could rarely see; he wasn't quickly impressed.

"That's my wife." Jack smiled confident, breaking the silence before kissing her on her forehead. "You are brilliant, _Darling_."

"I know, right?" Elsa smirked confidently at Michael, while Jack hugged her mollified in his endearment.

Victoria walked through the corridor, without giving them a glance. Her gaze was locked to her end destiny: the front door and nothing else to get away from this, in the teen's opinion, hell hole. She wore long sleeves, although it was bloody hot outside. "I'm off to see Oliver." She announced monotone, her gaze still frozen cold and locked to the door as she walked past the three adults.

Michael frowned severe. Elsa knew he wasn't a fan of Oliver. He opened his mouth to keep her here in stead of at her boyfriend. "Victoria, you still need to make your homework and I-"

"And I don't care." Victoria snapped bitchy back, interrupting her foster dad with no pardon. Seconds after, they saw and heard how she slammed the front door with a thud.

"Well, let's get back to business. We have a lot to do." Jack began business-like and Elsa knew his hands were itching to find something.

"Of course, if there're any questions, ask me." Michael spoke nice while he looked for a second in the couple's eyes.

Elsa nodded in response, walked towards the safe, grabbed her suitcase, revealed magnesium powder and foil. She crouched and began to examine the safe. She felt how Jack's gaze stung in her back, like he was an eagle searching for its prey. She felt like she was judged for every decision she made, every move and hated such pressure. "Jack, _Dear_, I thought you had work ask well?" She asked abstemious, speaking over her shoulder.

She saw and felt how his gaze glided over her body, now her head was turned slightly over her shoulder and she knew his gaze was focused for a few seconds to her butt since she was crouching. She cleared her throat aggravated as his gaze got back to her, now he was snapped out of his trance. "Yes_ Honey_." He sighed bitter-sweet and then turned himself to Michael. "Michael, where is the recorder so I can connect my computer to see the video?" Jack asked, while letting his hands glide in his pockets.

"Follow me, it's in my workroom for when I work at home." With these words, Jack and the tycoon walked out of the corridor.

She decided it was good to move on with her work. Very cautious, she sprinkled some magnesium powder on the safe. The police and her agency had always used it to identify fingerprints, since magnesium powder was highly sticky to surfaces. After that she used some foil, pressed it against the surface with the magnesium powder, and if everything went well, she could analyse the fingerprint or prints and discover who had broken into the safe.

She searched in the suitcase to get the foil, gloves and a tweezers. She put latex gloves on and with the tweezers she picked up the foil and lay it onto the magnesium powder. Very cautiously, she pressed the foil onto it. She quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was so hot in New York. The apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Smith was very well air conditioned, but it was still very hot.

She looked up when she heard little scratches on the door, like that something was hitting it. It looked like little dog nails were trying to dig into the door that led to the corridor. There was a transparent glass door that bordered to the bright and modern living room and she could see the white Dwarf Poodle of Victoria, Olaf, standing in front of the door. He let out a high pitched bark. They had given him as a puppy to Victoria and he'd already grown some more.

"Hey Olaf," She whispered in mirth, smiling softly. She put her stuff aside, threw her gloves off, raised from her crouch position, opened the door to the corridor and before she knew it, Olaf was jumping and barking in happiness, while his little tail was wagging like there was no tomorrow. "Hey _Sweetie_! Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Yeah, I thought so too. And that _bad boo-boo_ of a Jack? Did he just ignore you? Did he just ignore you? Mrs. Frost has a cocky husband, don't you think so? Don't you think so? Come here for a hug.'' Elsa said with a high pitched voice, while talking to the snow white ball of curls. Luckily Olaf wasn't having that typical poodle clip; he was a bunch of curls that was about to explode.

She picked up the Poodle and before she knew it, Olaf licked her nose and face, his little tongue being everywhere but where it actually belonged. She giggled and it was clear he liked hugs and cuddling. She kissed his soft curls and he smelled like strawberries, because he just had a bath. She was happy to know Victoria took care of him, because Kathrine said clearly she and her husband didn't have time for a dog so it had to be the ruthless teen who maybe did have a heart deep down.

"Sorry Olaf, I have to continue with work now." She said with a sorry face and put him down. The dog's tail dropped dramatically and it got in no time between his legs before he walked beaten away with drooping ears to the living room again. She saw how his bench stood next to the wall of the living room that was opposite of the glass door which Elsa had opened before cuddling him, and finally, Olaf lay down in his bench, exhaling softly before he turned his head away from Elsa. Elsa awed when she saw how Olaf decided to just go back to sleep now and accept his fate.

She turned herself to the safe again and continued her work. She grabbed tweezers out of her suitcase and with that she pulled the foil off the safe. There were fingerprints on the safe, a thing that was pretty obvious, but she was still quite happy with the result.

Michael entered the corridor, holding his computer bag in his hand. Elsa looked up. "I'm off to the bank, I'll see you later Elsa." He said with a friendly wink. The flirt.

She smiled politely, said goodbye and continued her work. She put the fingerprints in a transparent bag and put a sticker on it. She walked with the bag in her hand to Jack while she questioned where Michael' workroom was. "Jack, _Sweetie_, where are you?" Elsa asked bitter-sweet.

"_I'm here_." She heard him calling from out of a room that bordered next to the living room. She walked towards it, opened the door and she saw Jack sitting behind Michael' desk, looking at the video. She could see that he was frowning, and his face didn't look happy at all.

"What happened? Are you fooling around again?" She asked mischievously, as she raised immaculately an eyebrow.

"Nothing, just it's just that Michael has the code to get access to see the video, but he just left the house. As you probably know, Kathrine is not at home, just like Victoria, but she wasn't going to help us anyway, and now I have to find an other way." Jack sighed, now restlessly typing things down.

Elsa stood still in the doorway, but then quickly walked towards him and put her arm between him and his computer. Jack looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Okay, before you start doing crazy things and hack the whole system down, which I know you're trying to do now, I need your computer to see whose fingerprints have been found on the safe and I can only do that by checking the ISA database." She said firmly, as she put her finger on his MacBook.

"_Uh-uh_. Bad girl, hands off." He spoke magisterial. He stopped typing and showed his index finger.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "I would almost think you're hiding something on that computer."

"In your dreams." He groaned through gritted teeth, again typing like an idiot, but he didn't look at her.

"Jack, give me the computer or I'll turn it off." She warned authoritatively, while her finger was tracing dangerously low above the power-off button of his MacBook. With a pout, Jack gave it to her. Elsa smirked in victory as she got into the database. She then scanned the fingerprint and waited for an answer.

She watched as the screen loaded. She then looked for a match. _30%, 40%, 60%, 95%..._ No match had been found.

"What happened? _Are you fooling around again_?" He imitated her when the fella heard how a groan escaped her lips.

"I can't find a match!" She exclaimed in incomprehension. "Wait, what if I just..." She continued to type. She then scanned the fingerprint and tried to match it with Hans' fingerprint that was in their database. Hans was really suspect and she knew it was actually a dick move she made here, but she had to know it.

_0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 78%, 89%, 100%._ She raised an eyebrow there was still no match, but there was something strange going on.

"Jack! This is just insane! This fingerprint I have here, looks like the one from Hans. It has the same pattern and some similarities, but it isn't the same! It's not a match, but yet it kind of is! I've never experienced things like this ever before! Maybe it is Hans', but the fingerprint is mixed!" She exclaimed while she ran worriedly a hand through her hair.

"That's insane and impossible, come here." He grabbed the computer that stood across from her on the work desk and pulled it to him. He began typing things down, again scanned the fingerprint and before she knew it he gave it back with a sigh. "Here you are, _Princess._"

He resumed looking at the videotape, but he made the database screen smaller to multitask, so Elsa could see when the database found any new matches.

_10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 95%, 100%._ Match had been found. Slowly, data was loaded, name, age, features, and so on.

Her eyes widened in shock when more data was loaded, and she couldn't believe her eyes. She knew this person was capable of doing a lot of things, but she just hoped it wasn't true and that it was one big mistake. She raised impulsive, walked again to the safe and got more fingerprints in no time and fifteen minutes later she had scanned them all.

She prayed it was not true what she'd seen, as she closed her eyes firmly, but once again, the exact same data was loaded as fifteen minutes before. "Jack, come here with that damn computer and show me the videotape!" She demanded but she was too panicked that she already grabbed the computer from him and put it on her lap.

"Elsa what's happened? Who was it?!"

"Jack when were the codes stolen from the safe?" She asked determined, while moving her head in his direction. She did it so suddenly her braid swung to the other side of her shoulder.

"Let me think…"

"I have no time for this Jack!" She exclaimed irritated.

"Calm down, calm down... Um, it was... the eighteenth of August, two days before we had our second appointment with Michael and Kathrine."

She typed the information down on the computer. "Found it." She was almost stuck to the screen. This was the moment of truth. Her eyes again widened, just like Jack's when they saw the tape. He was as concentrated and nervous as her. "This is insane." Jack whispered as he stared at the video.

Elsa looked up from her screen and was shocked when she finally realized it was true. She felt dizzy, and closed Jack's MacBook with a thud. She buried her face in her hands and sighed. This case was so confusing; she got a headache from it.

"Elsa is it true?! Did we see it well?!" Jack spoke in incomprehension, just as shocked as she from what they'd just seen.

Elsa could only nod, her head still buried with her face in her hands, while the same line dominated her thoughts over and over again.

It wasn't Hans who'd broken into the safe.

It was Victoria.


	12. Chapter XI cuts

**CHAPTER XI: Cuts**

**ELSA**

"I...I can't believe this," Elsa stammered in her shock, still staring at the videotape. She sat frozen in her chair, watching how the sixteen-year-old open the safe after looking if someone was watching her, her head turning from left to right, her eyes searching for suspective things in the corridor as her long auburn hair swayed from shoulder to shoulder when she was turning her head, before she opened the safe and pulled a little piece of paper with codes out of it. She stared at them before closing the safe and then tip toed away.

"Are we going to tell Michael and Katherine?" Jack mumbled in shock as well, while he fumbled restlessly with his chin. Elsa saw that he hadn't shaved himself and she had to admit it, he looked cute with stubbles. Actually, it was pretty sexy. Only a true man could do it like that with so much style and yet it looked so cute but most of all; _seductive_.

"No, no we are going to confront her when she least expects it and only we and her will know it, although it is inevitable that we have to tell Michael and Katherine. But we have to do it in the way of a surprise attack, so she can't prepare a lie. As soon as Michael and Katherine confront her with this footage, she'll prepare herself for in case we're going to ask her questions,'' Elsa explained, while crossing one leg over the other, before laying her hands on her lap. She folded them solemn, tranquillity aura surrounding her but the sudden feeling she'd wanted to peel all the nail polish off her nails in stress was invading mind and thought.

"Like when?" he closed his MacBook with a thud and turned his head to look at her. He raised an eyebrow at her matter-of-factly in the typical 'Jack' way.

Elsa amusedly lifted a corner of her mouth to reveal a cunning smirk he would call underhand, filled with mischief. "Tomorrow when she is coming back from school, we'll wait for her."

"I can't believe it Elsa! You are crazy, insane and just unbelievable! What's wrong with you when you're on your period?! If I'm getting this reckless behaviour from you every month, I swear I won't survive," Jack complained sulking. It was the next day and they sat in the car on their way to Victoria's high school as Jack was driving. With a lot of negotiating, arguing, yelling, and shooting death glares at each other, she'd finally managed to get Jack to follow her plans and not his.

"For the last time, I'm not on my period!" Elsa lied, still trying to defend herself. She moved her head in his direction, but Jack stared at the pavement with the most amused smile she'd ever seen him wearing, while he was chuckling.

"Elsa I recognise the signs, I lived my whole life with woman in one house till I got to college," Jack said as he moved his head in her direction. They stopped in front of a traffic light, while Jack drummed with his fingers on the steering wheel.

"What do you mean?" she asked confusedly, while raising suspiciously an eyebrow. He said it almost softly, like he didn't want her to hear it so he didn't have to give her any explanation.

"My father left my mum for another woman after my sister was born and he used to hit me," he shrugged in a 'shit happens' tone, but Elsa saw how he acted like he didn't care. Elsa was convinced it was deep stuff, and actually she wanted to know more about it, but then common sense told her that if he wanted to share a background story with her, he would and she didn't want to whine and pull it out of him as a desperate gossiper who needed new juicy stories.

"Oh," she could only say, but it came out really cocky for her feeling. Jack was unresponsive and she saw he hid behind his concrete mental wall so no one could hurt him. A tough cold man was sitting next to her, not even giving body language to a single living soul that was near. She didn't know what to think of this and she was convinced there was more hiding in the shadows. She again concentrated herself at the burning pavement in front of her where the heat waves arose from, while shoving the vague thing Jack had just confessed to her to the back of her head.

"Elsa do you even know where we are driving to?! Do you know where her high school is?" Jack groaned sighing and he again opened his body language. Elsa saw in the way he reacted that he got grumpy from this hot weather as well, just as her. She was begging for a cool glass of water with ice cubes in it.

"Yes Jack, I know where her high school is! I typed it in the navigation. Do you remember when Katherine said 'Walt's Private School called, Victoria ditched classes again this week'?" she said sassily, while she bored revealed her phone and unlocked the screen as she scrolled down Facebook for any notifications.

"Exactly! _Ditched classes_, maybe she isn't even at school, maybe she's just shopping with friends somewhere in Manhattan?! Well I can tell you I am not going to cross through whole New York to find that bitch," Jack groaned. His voice lowered as well the window, hoping to get some fresh air, but they both felt how a heat wave attacked them.

"Jack, raise the window," she groaned grumpily and Jack begrudgingly obeyed. "She's not a bitch! She's just cold and needs to thaw. She seems really nice to me if I could just know her true nature! We have to try it, surprising her in this way I mean. I've searched on the Internet for the address of her high school by the way."

''You stalker,'' he groaned heartedly. Jack raised the window and sighed. "It's bloody hot," he complained with a wail.

"Sorry, can't help it that I'm so hot," Elsa laughed teasingly, while flapping her hands in front of her face, to 'flap' the heat away. Jack moved his head to her and looked at her with a mortifying look, coldly raising an eyebrow that this was the silliest joke he'd ever heard.

"It's a joke! See who here is on his period?" she laughed teasingly, while playfully poking him.

They arrived fifteen minutes later at the private school where Victoria was studying. It was situated in the middle of Manhattan and the skyscrapers stood around it like loyal guards. There was a big round fountain in front of the private school, a huge a flagpole with the American flag was on top of it and the school had seven floors. It was clear the parents of these kids had to be very rich since they were paying 50,000 dollars a year to let their child get educated here. But all that let Victoria cold if they heard Michael and Katherine. She hated her private school and ditched often classes to go shopping with her friends in Manhattan, showing figurative and almost also literally her middle finger at her foster parents and their rules.

Jack parked the car on the side of the road. Jack ran a hand through his hair, while he irritated pulled the carkey out of the ignition before he turned his head at her, face aggravated and annoyed. "This is insane Elsa! Who knows when this kid has her last period?! It's two o'clock and we can wait here until four o'clock if we're unlucky, well that's not for me!" Jack spoke irritated on an exuberantly tone in his incomprehension.

"Jack we have to try it, just go with it okay?!" she shot willfully at him. "This work is bringing sacrifices with itself and I'm sorry you can't watch your Game of Thrones right now!" she shot cockily at him on a snarky tone.

"There's a summer break," he groaned heartedly while he stared forward to the pavement. The yellow cabs passed them one by one, all waiting till the traffic light would jump on green while the cars on the other side of the road on the intersection stopped since the traffic light had jumped on red.

"Jack, behave like a man, step out of this damn car and just solve this case!" she complained dominantly on a sulking tone.

"ELSA, YOU ARE FUCKING INSANE,'' he yelled at her while he moved his head towards her.

"Oh really Jack?! Give me one reason!" she yelled in feriousity back at him. Elsa had the intention that she wasn't going to back off at all. For her feeling he could walk to the moon and never come back if she had his fate in her own bloody hands.

"Oh you want reasons?! Well you can get then Mrs_. _Mortimer! Argument one: You are going behind the backs of Michael and Katherine spy on their daughter," Jack said snarky, while counting on his index finger, as he gave her a warning and challenging look.

"They've adopted her! It's not even their real daught-"

"_Eloisie_ remember our rule, when _Jackie_ is speaking..."

"_Eloisie_ is silent," she added groaning.

"Indeed. Argument two: We are here, standing in front of this high school of the kid, we don't know when her classes end and we might be here very long!" he spoke now adding another finger-middle- to count on.

"You've already said that, so that doesn't count."

"_Sweetie_, this is the last time I'm going to ask it friendly," he smiled fake. "Argument three: why are you interfering yourself with this child?! She's just a teenager who is in a rough period of life, she's a rebel and has nothing to do with this plot, this case! This is stuff for grown-ups, not for a sixteen-year-old teen that is just a rebel! Okay, now you may speak."

"Jack she has broken into that safe! There has been stolen 6,900,000 dollars; you can't underestimate this! You saw it too and I don't trust her!" Elsa spoke boldly in her certainty, raising her voice.

Jack sighed irritated. "Okay! Okay! Do what you want, don't listen to Jack, no why would you, because Jack is just a dumb stupid man who has no knowledge of this all! No he hasn't worked for the ISA for seven years and also hasn't solved almost every case!" he said sarcastically, while throwing his hands in the air.

"Self-complacent ass," Elsa muttered.

"Ice Queen," he shot back.

''Stubble head.''

''PMS pervert.''

Their insulting was interrupted when they heard how the buzzer went off because sixth period ended and Elsa looked on her watch. "Okay, so it's now 14:10," she spoke mumbling, while looking outside if there was any movement. The first seconds there was not a single student walking out of the building, but soon, she saw how the stream of pupils walked out of the building, all wearing the most expensive clothes, all having the newest iPhones, while they were talking and laughing, or some walked alone in their own world with their earplugs in, staring with blank faces forward although some mumbled along with the beat and words of their song.

"How are we ever going to find Victoria in this crowd of hooligans?" Jack sighed sulkingly in a despaired tone, while staring outside to the crowd of students who all clearly wanted to go home and be released from this horribly invented thing called 'SCHOOL'. I.e. 'Seven Crap Hours of Our Lives' if she looked at their austere and monotone faces.

**(A/N) Song: 'Over' from Tove Lo.**

_(intro)_

"I'm going to Vero, you stay here in the car!" Elsa demanded dominantly. She put her glasses on, grabbed her Louis Vuitton bag, got out of the black Porsche car, jerked the door of it and walked towards the schoolyard like she was just a rich mum who was going to pick up her kid with her husband from school. Summer looked perpetual and a wave of heat attacked her.

_Stay up until dawn_

_I can't go home again now_

_After tonight_

_Seems like I'm out of your life_

She searched for a redhead with long hair that had a slight wave as it reached her elbows and she scanned for incisively peridot green eyes. She approached the crowd of students, her eyes scanning all the teens. She saw a girl with red hair that just walked past her. She didn't think and grabbed her by her shoulder, the girl turning questionly her head but she looked in the blue eyes of an eleven-year-old with freckles on her nose and a pretty face. She was almost a total copy of Victoria but she was younger and had blue eyes.

_Apologise_

_No, it won't make it better_

_What can I say?_

_It's all too late_

Elsa apologised, let go of her but then she saw her, Victoria being surrounded by a lot of friends, talking, laughing, while lifting her chin in dignity, leading the group of girls and some boys. She showed them something on her iPhone and soon the girls whistled and fangirled. It was clear Victoria was the Queen Bee in the Private School for sure in her class. She heard the words 'Oliver', Victoria blused in reaction as everybody was locked to all what she did. Who didn't follow a dominant, willful and just intriguing mesmerizing girl like her? She ruled, she demanded, they obeyed.

_Tell me, is this the part when_

_When we part ways forever_

_Tell me, is this the part when_

_Part when we are_

Elsa decided to wait a bit longer, because if she called her name now, Victoria could turn around to walk back inside or she would ignore and dodge her and Elsa had the plan to strike on the moment Victoria was the most unprepared. The other students walked past her, sometimes bumping elbows, as the spoiled brats not even gave her a glance.

_Over_

_Wish I was, wish I was_

_sober_

_Guess we are, guess we are_

She looked up when the corners of Victoria's mouth lifted so a smile spread across her face. She almost never smiled and Elsa studied the girl once again. Her body language was opener and Elsa could see she was suddenly all happy with no reason to be. She asked herself if she was she having a mania, but she then realised people would never laugh and smile to themselves. She waved goodbye to her friends and ran towards the edge of the schoolyard.

_Fighting all this fight_

_You're so cold without the love_

_There is nothing left out of everything we were_

_Over_

_Guess we are over_

Elsa followed the teenager with her eyes. She walked faster on her high heels and ducked behind a wall that was the facade of Walt's Private School, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She moved herself to the edge, while her blue eyes pierced over it, trying to see what Victoria's plan was.

She now saw why she smiled and ran towards the edge of the square on the side of the Private School; Oliver was standing next to his car, as the seventeen-year-old had his arms crossed. She raised suspiciously an eyebrow. If she looked very closely over the edge of the wall, she could see Victoria and Oliver.

_Walk through the door_

_You see that I've been crying_

_Head hanging low_

_You say "where the fuck have you been?"_

She saw how Victoria ran towards him, hugged and kissed him tenderly, but Oliver pushed her away. Victoria was shocked and dumbfounded while she coiled a bit backwards. Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"_W-why do you reject me? Is there something wrong?_" Elsa heard her saying. Victoria's voice sounded confused and almost insecure while she turned her head to look around and Elsa ducked behind the wall again. Wow Vero and insecure; it was almost impossible.

''_Where the fuck have you been?!''_ he groaned before he raised his hand to lash out that he wanted to hit her, but Victoria held her hand up to protect her face from being slapped. Oliver didn't hit her and Victoria looked up again.

_Should I deny_

_And maybe dodge this bullet_

_You read my mind_

_I just can't lie._

''_I'm sorry, my foster dad was-''_

''_For fucks sake Simone and I waited for you the whole afternoon and what does my ungrateful girlfriend do? She ignores my and your BFF's Whatsapp messages. What a way to treat your friend,''_ he scoffed snarkily in a cocky tone.

'''_I'm sorry my foster dad-''_

"_Now,_ _tell me who those people were at the party of your 'parents'. That man also known as Jack Frost and that woman with the blonde hair, tell me the real reason why they were there,_" Oliver confronted in a demanding tone, while letting go of her hand. He was clearly intimidating her.

_Tell me, is this the part when_

_When we part ways forever_

_Tell me, is this the part when_

_Part when we are_

"_T-they're... Friends from my foster parents,"_ Victoria said quickly.

He grabbed her by her shoulders and jerked her forward, their noses almost touching, their lips inches removed from each other, his eyes shotting a mortifying glare at her. Victoria gasped and flinched in fear. She was scared of him and Elsa saw how she was trembling. "_Listen, if you lie to me, which I know you're doing now, I can become very tedious. Thereby, we don't want that I have to tell your secret to mummy and daddy?"_ he said with a fake compassion expression while he stroked coldly her cheek.

_Over_

_Wish I was, wish I was_

_sober_

_Guess we are, guess we are_

"_They are not my parents, I will find my real ones back watch me, Oliver. Watch me finding them back,_" she said boldly in valour, now lifting her chin with a cold expression. It was clear she found her voice and strength back as she tried to subtly brush his hand off her cheek but Oliver almost slammed hers away, his hands cupping it fiercely now. He stroked it with his thumb and Victoria wailed that he had to let go of her and that she was scared of him now.

_Fighting all this fight_

_You're so cold without the love_

_There is nothing left out of everything we were_

_Over_

_Guess we are over_

_Guess we are over_

"_Veronique, how on earth do you want to find them back? By waiting till they come to you, hug you, till the idiots find you? Listen, my love, don't wait till life comes to you, take that from me, because then, bébé,'' now switching to French,'' it's getting boring and we don't want our beautiful phoenix to get bored, because then she might burn down to ashes and we don't want that, do we?'' _Victoria kept on wailing and crying for her freedom and that he had to let go of her, tears running down her cheeks as Oliver interrupted her harshly, raising more and more menacingly his voice._''So just accept that you have no family anymore, 'cause they are dead Victoria. They are dead,'' _Oliver ended whispering, his eye contact so intense that Victoria was locked to his eyes, the tears streaming silently down her cheeks_. ''It's for the best, don't you think so, my love? Who wants parents? Who wants rules?''_

_I can tell that you know when it kills you_

_What you need me to say's gonna hurt you_

_Wanna run, but I stay 'cause I have to_

_Have to tell you_

''_N-nobody,'' _she whispered sobbing, her shoulders jolting, casting her eyes down_._

''_Indeed, my love. Nobody. Who wants parents who demand you what to do?''_

''_Nobody,'' she repeated._

''_Who wants that if our phoenix tries to find her parents, that she will die and burn to ashes just because she was stubborn?''_

''_I'll rise.''_

''_No, Victoria. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants you dead, nobody but the evil in this world. And that's why I'm here; To protect you.''_

''_And now, who wants that I have to tell your secret to mummy and daddy?''_

''_Nobody.''_

_And I know that you're so gonna hate me_

_If you did what I did, I would hate you too_

_I would hate you too_

_And we are_

''_Indeed. I love you so much Honey, but only if-"_

Someone grabbed her arm. Elsa jumped and could just conceal a scream, her heart making a jump before pounding hard in her chest, like she just had just run a marathon. She turned her head roughly over her shoulder, blonde hair swaying with her over her shoulder to see who disturbed this important moment and there was her husband. "Hey Elsa, what do you think you're doing?" Jack whispered through gritted teeth, as he was standing behind her.

_Over, over_

_Wish I was, wish I was_

_sober_

_Guess we are, guess we are_

Victoria shook her head as she begged bim. "_No please! I already did everything you want, please I don't want to do this anymore!_"

"What's happening?" Jack asked whispering in oblivion. He whispered so softly it was almost inaudible.

Elsa turned her head to Jack, while rolling with her eyes. "That is what I'm trying to find out, _Sherlock_."

_Fighting all this fight_

_You're so cold without the love_

"_Please!_" she begged again, but her supplication was useless; Oliver's gaze didn't show any emotion, his face unwritten and his eyes were dark, cold and penetratingly, not flurried either mollified by Victoria's pleadings. Victoria casted her eyes down as a sign of submission.

"_Good. I love you_," Oliver pressed firmly his lips against hers, hands still cupping her cheeks, and body pressed against hers. After that, he walked away and stepped in his car.

"I'm going to follow that Oliver," Jack whispered firmly in a dauntless tone and he walked away.

"_Don't forget where I am capable of,_" Oliver glared before he drove away, leaving the girl dumbfounded behind.

_There is nothing left out of everything we were_

_Over_

_Guess we are over_

Victoria sighed wistfully while looking how her boyfriend drove away. She searched in her schoolbag for her earplugs and iPhone, put them on, music playing in seconds and she walked away towards Elsa, although not knowing what was waiting for her, like she had sipped some of the Lethe, river of Oblivion, her face cold and monotone how you would see her walking down the street and Elsa could hear she listened to Royals of Lorde, the beat of the song to be heard for the outside world as it drummed along with Victoria's heartbeat. A skipped heartbeat was made when she realized Elsa had to strike right now and wasn't prepared for this.

_(end)_

The beat of Lorde fit her with all the lines 'you can call me Queen Bee' and 'and baby I'll rule'. Soon Victoria walked past the wall where Elsa was standing behind. She grabbed her by her shoulders and pinned her in a swift second against the wall, smashing the defenceless girl against it before she could even react and she quickly jerked the earplugs out of Victoria's ears. She did it so fast that Victoria couldn't escape her.

"Let me go!" Victoria yelled at the top of her lungs, but she stopped with yelling and looked up when she saw it was Elsa. She glared deathly at her and yelled even harder. "LET ME GO!" she tried to escape her by trying to push Elsa's hands off her shoulder, her body, but Elsa had pinned her so well against the wall that Victoria couldn't go anywhere. Victoria tried everything to get out of Elsa's hands but she had Victoria in utter power. She grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head, so she couldn't go anywhere. Victoria began crying for freedom as she still yelled and wailed.

"No Victoria," Elsa said coldly. "Did you know what my husband and I've done huh? We've examined finger prints, looked at the security camera and do you know what we've found?" Elsa said in a warning tone, with a slight hiss in it, bending closer to her face, looking deeper in her venom green eyes that were now deathly and deterrent. Victoria had already a distate for her, for putting her nose in everything except for her business, stalking her for her idea, and constantly staring at her, but Elsa knew this event almost made sure that the bond Victoria and she had, if she could even call it that, was now officially ruined and friendship was impossible.

She knew her nails dug into the girl's shoulders, but what Elsa asked herself was: Why was Victoria wearing long sleeves? For God's sake, she wore a ruffled thin fabric dress and she was sweating a river. Victoria wore her black long sleeved fluffy black coat again from when they'd first met on the first appointment with Michael and Katherine. The ends of the sleeves where very wide and it had to bloody hot. Elsa didn't understand it, why didn't she put it off?

"No, I don't know what you've found," she groaned boldly in fake oblivion, but if Elsa looked deeper in the cold emerald green eyes which were narrowed in a glare, she saw nervousity and Victoria averted her gaze for a couple of seconds. Victoria's body language was even more closed than normal and Elsa had the idea she could better talk to the wall where she was pushing Victoria against, because that gave her more answers than the very girl in front of her.

"We've analysed everything and guess what? The fingerprint was yours and on the video was to be seen that _you_ broke into the safe of your father! Victoria why are you stealing from Michael?!" Elsa confronted her, pushing the girl even more into the wall, a thing that was practically impossible. Victoria groaned in pain, wails escaping her narrow lips while Elsa pushed her fragile and skinny body to almost the breaking point with the amount of pressure she was putting on it.

Victoria groaned out loud in her dismay and pushed Elsa off her with all her might and strength on a way that Elsa had to let go of her. She could just find her balance on her high heels as she almost stumbled, but center of gravity was luckily quickly found.

The teen wanted to walk away to God knows where, she being pissed-off, but Elsa's hand grabbed her by her arm in a split second, so Victoria was jerked back by the sudden force, not preparing herself for this strike. "Stay here, you," Elsa commanded. Victoria stopped walking and turned her head to Elsa with the most mortifying and insinuatingly gaze Elsa had ever seen but Elsa decided to not back off; She straightened her back, lifted her chin and glared down upon the sixteen-year-old with a penetrating magisterial gaze.

She pulled Victoria even more to her, by turning her arm roughly and she turned her around. Victoria wailed in pain, a tear escaping a corner of one of her eyes to run down her cheek. Shock filled heart and mind, eyes widened and heartbeats increased; by the force she'd pulled Victoria to her, one of the wide sleeves of her was jerked upwards and now her pale inner arm was exposed.

The cuts and scars dominated her skin and it looked absolutely horrible to see.

They had a the dark crimson blood colour, were quite deep and Elsa could see in one second they weren't that 'old', no the cuts were fresh although she already had scars so she had to be doing this for a longer period of time now. Elsa looked slowly up to Victoria, eyes meeting, while raising suspiciously an eyebrow at the teen and then back to her maimed arm, full with disgust.

She looked at the arm, back at Victoria, back and forth the whole the time while a painful silence and atmosphere arose between the two like a wall of ice. It became taciturn, unnerving, her heart pounding harder and harder in her chest like a drum. She knew that every second looked like an hour for the teen, but she studied the scars, as well as Victoria's body language and eyes for half a minute.

Victoria flinched vulnerable and almost beaten, casting her eyes down in insecurity and shame. Elsa looked up, seeing how her mental wall broke in this instant second, collapsing under her shock. This was the first time Victoria was behaving vulnerable and wasn't looking back with a dominant either mortifying gaze. She was actually submissive and didn't dare to say something, so a taciturn atmosphere arose between the two. It looked Victoria finally got back to present. She wanted to pull her arm back, breaking the nerving lacuna that had lasted to long for her, but Elsa was prepared for this move and held it tightly. She knew her nails dug into her wrists and Victoria's blood circulation to her hand temporarily stopped but Elsa was busy with everything except for that.

"_Dear_, what on earth did you do?" Elsa asked suspiciously, the '_dear_' on quite a snarky tone, her gaze never averting from Victoria who was suddenly almost another person. She looked so fragile and vulnerable. Elsa was shocked when she saw this other person.

"Eh just a…. an… accident…I was skating and I fell?" she said insecurely. Elsa cocked an eyebrow at her, not believing a word of what she said. Elsa chuckled with mock as Victoria quickly added with a blank face. "Yes, that's true I fell." Her peridot green eyes were averting in every possible way eye contact with the twenty-six-year-old in front of her, who still had her in utterly power.

Elsa let go of her arm, and Victoria didn't know how fast she had to jerk her sleeve down, the cuts and scars covered again and she hid her arm behind her back, hoping that Elsa hadn't seen a single cut, but Elsa had seen every single one of them, engraving her arm like a promise you could crave on someone's heart; to never let go and to always stay.

"You cut yourself, don't you?" she asked sharply while cocking dauntlessly an eyebrow at Victoria.

**JACK**

"_Fuck_!" the agent cursed as he threw one hand in the air, his other one resting on the steering wheel. Oliver was nowhere to be seen; his car had disappeared in the busy streets and Avenues of New York, leaving no trace.

He stopped, made a reversal like a master and drove back to Elsa. He hoped she was still on the same square, because he didn't want to find her again on Madison either Fifth Avenue to catch her at shopping again.

**ELSA**

Victoria glared mortifyingly at her, before she spat in outrage and dismay. ''Who do you think you are to think I cut myself?! You're insane!'' Green periodot eyes had never been so deterrent to stare in, and her eyes spoke what the teen would call her truth that had to be as bright as Eos, but body language was as dark as the Nyx where all her sins hid.

''I can assure you I'm sure of my business and I warn you, Victoria Smith, don't try to contradict me, 'cause them I'm not nice,'' Elsa hissed at her, her tone had never been filled with so much determency, she'd never spoken in such way to anyone, but if Victoria thought she was dumb enough to believe her empty lies, then she had a lot left to learn of how Elsa worked.

Lips of the girl were parted to speak, and Elsa saw she had parted them to protest her surname wasn't Smith, but then she casted her eyes down and groaned submissive. ''H-how do you-"

"Do you think I can't recognise your kind of cuts? I've had police training, we learn to distinguish all these kinds of cuts and scars," Elsa said matter-of-factly, still with a tone of mischief in it, while wearing a self-complacent smirk.

"In what way?" Victoria asked cunningly. Elsa knew her plan. Victoria tried to deduce her, but Elsa explained it with _all her love_ to her.

"If there is a murder and the police needs to know what the lethal weapon was, they look at the cuts or injuries in an autopsy. For example, if a person has been stabbed with a knife, we can see immediately from which knife it is when we look if it's having a serrated edge, or smooth and so on."

Elsa resumed with an amused smile. "So to see your cuts...I don't think they're caused by a 'fall' neither from a knife, 'cause if I look closer at them it looks like you cut yourself with-"

"I don't cut myself." Victoria defended herself firmly with narrowed eyes.

"I see we're in denial,'' Elsa noticed on a singing tone. ''Okay if you want to play it like that, I'll play the game with you," Elsa smirked deviously and cunningly, before cocking amusedly an eyebrow at her.

"Mrs. Frost-"

"Elsa," she corrected Victoria.

"Elsa! I don't cut myself!" Victoria repeated, her eyes spitting fire although agony that expressed itself in a shimmer appeared in her eyes. Elsa grabbed in a reflex her other arm, so Victoria wailed again in pain and hissed mortifyingly in her dismay at Elsa, but she didn't care and jerked her sleeve upwards.

Also this arm was full with cuts, her body once again engraved with all her grief, pain, and sadness.

Elsa trailed over them with her finger, while looking at Victoria, who was flinching in pain when Elsa put for a slight moment her nail in one of the cuts.

"Listen _Sweetie_, if you behave like a six-year old, I'll treat you like one."

"Anyway, I was explaining your question," Elsa resumed with a fake Princess smile. "If I look at your scars, I don't think you use a knife, whatever more, actually I think you use a thing that is more common in a household, as it has a smoother surface, but it needs to be a thing that can also be very..._ sharp_," Elsa still studied attentively the cuts of Victoria, while the teen still struggled against her, but in vain because Elsa's grip was relentless. "What do you think if I gamble it at the shard of a mirror or the glass shard of a... photo frame?" Elsa spoke deviously, while looking at the now scared to death girl, as all colour had drained away from her pale face. She was trembling in agony.

Victoria was so to see shocked when she heard what Elsa said, eyes slightly widening but they formed immediately into narrow slits to use as her mental wall. "I-I don't know where you're talking about," Victoria stammered, still averting eye contact with Elsa. She turned around with a hair flip so her auburn hair moved with her in her high ponytail and she walked away, probably to the nearest subway.

Elsa finally let her go, but watched with narrowed eyes the girl until she was just a little black stip on the horizon, now sliding down the railing to enter the subway station, taking the underground to the Upper East Side where she lived with Michael and Katherine.

"He's gone that Oliver," she heard a voice sighing heavily behind her. She turned around and Jack was standing in front of her now, while holding carkeys in his hand.

"Come let's go home, I've got a lot to tell you," Elsa sighed before grabbing his arm and pulling him with her.

"And when I turned her arm like this," Elsa demonstrated by turning her arm outwards, so her inner arm was to be seen. ''There were scars and cuts everywhere," she spoke seriously. They drove home. Elsa was driving and telling the story at the same time. Actually Jack wanted to drive, but Elsa had been dominant and took the lead. As always the traffic was stuck in the streets of Manhattan but this time she used the time in her benefit to tell her story in every single detail. "It was a horrible sight and they looked even scarier because the child is as pale as a ghost. I bet she never shows her bare arm by the way," Elsa frowned seriously when Jack was silent.

"Elsa, you are just an overworried mother. Do you know where my mother had to cope with when I was a teenager?" Elsa shook quickly her head in response. "Then I had a gall in my leg because I climbed in a tree and fell off it because the branch where I should supposed to be standing on snapped, one day I collapsed into a streetlight as result that I had this huge bruise above my eyebrow, then I helped my mother _once_ in the kitchen and I cut myself by mistake with a kitchen knife so she had to bring me to the first aid," Jack sighed a bit to catch his breath, in a way like he finally came to the surface after being underwater for two minutes and Elsa snickered. "Oh yes, and of course she had a son who wanted to found a shelter for _homeless squirrels_ that he always brought home," Jack ended with an amused smile.

Elsa laughed, while trying at the same time to concentrate herself on the busy traffic. It was hard although she still managed to keep the car in the right lane. "You're crazy."

"Once more what this Victoria does, is nothing compared to with what my mother had been through with me as a teenager," he snickered laughing, while a hand ran through his hair.

Elsa still snickered a bit but then serious thoughts hit her and she cleared her throat businesslike to talk further in her business-like matter-of-factly tone. "Jack her whole arm was full with cuts. Both arms to be precisely."

"Maybe it was just an innocent accident, or a few in a row," he shrugged; defending his arguments and it was clear her colleague was convinced it was just all a big misunderstanding.

"Innocent accidents huh? Well, this kid has a lot of 'innocent accidents'. Those scars weren't from an innocent accident and absolutely not from a fall," she spoke firmly.

"Elsa come on, are you talking about where I think you are talking about now?"

"Well yes, I think you know for God's sake where I am talking about."

"But if it is where I think you are talking about, then I can't believe you are talking about that, because I think you are thinking about a thing where I am thinking about although I don't say it out loud, so you talk where I'm thinking about, now is my question: are you talking about where I think about, or am I thinking wrong where I think you are talking about?" he rattled.

"Wait, what?" Elsa laughed.

"Ha! Got you," Jack smirked. They both laughed till their stomachs hurt.

"You're crazy," she laughed rambunctiously.

"You too Winters."

"Ever heard of you Frost?" she teased back, still giggling before she turned her head to the front to concentrate herself on the pavement. Silence was perpetual, until Elsa spoke again on a serious tone. "You know what I think Jack? I think this child cuts herself."

"_You know what I think Elsa?"_ Jack imitated her in a high-pitched feminine voice. "I think Victoria is just a rebel. The name itself said it: Victor! Victory! Her second name is Veronique which also means 'victory' she has auburn hair, is bipolar, in the middle of the puberty. Do I need to go on?" he said almost sassily.

"Jack, Michael has forgotten to tell us one more thing about the bipolar disorder; If you have one, there is a thirty to forty percent chance you cut yourself, thereby there is more with her, I'm so sure of it."

"Her foster parents are billionaires, she is Queen Bee in high school, she wears the newest fashion clothes, is thin, has a beautiful posture, and a boyfriend, seriously about what does she have to worry so much that it's getting so severe out of hand?" he said with an irritated undertone, before throwing his hands in the air.

"Jack, she has more to hide and we are going to find it out. Everything. I won't rest until every story has been revealed, until every past has been solved, every dark secret that has been hidden in the dark shadows for years has been uncovered. And even if it will cut painful wounds open, we are going to solve this,"


	13. Chapter XII jackson?

**CHAPTER XII: Jackson?**

**JACK**

They were having dinner that same evening. Jack had still not forgotten Victoria's cuts somehow but they hadn't spoken a word about it. Elsa had cooked the meal and he didn't want to say she could cook like an angel or something, but he was convinced that it tasted damn good. He had to contain himself to not gobble everything at once in his mouth like a dog that hadn't eaten for a whole week.

He was just twisting his fork into the pasta when Elsa asked nonchalantly, like the devil was playing with the situation, also twisting her fork in her pasta, not looking at him. "Has there ever been a person who has changed your life like forever?"

Jack spit his pasta back in his plate and choked like there was no tomorrow, trying to get the food out of his trachea, but he immediately got a disapproval expression back from his wife. "This is becoming a habit of you, _darling_," she said bittersweet, referring to back when he'd spit his tea out in front of Lewis and Katherine, while she seductively bit her lower lip. Argh, she had to stop doing that because it turned this killer lady into a cute and seductive woman he wanted to kiss.

"Sorry what?" he said with a painful voice because of all the choking. He frowned and wiped the sauce off his chin with a napkin. Elsa gave him a second one when the first one was already completely filled with sauce after wipe one. He was convinced she always had everything with her; She wasn't unprepared for one single situation. He was quickly done but he felt still a bit off guard from Elsa's heavy mental intervention.

"Has there ever been someone who has changed your life?" she repeated, her blue orbs shimmering in curiosity.

Jack raised an eyebrow, but then chuckled in mock, before averting his gaze for a second from her. He then turned himself to her again with a cold glare, narrowing his eyes. "Why do you want to know that?" he asked suspiciously, while laying the napkin next to him on the table.

"Just a question…I guess." she shrugged apathetically and innocently, before eating, she apparently not even touched by his glare. She had a talent for it, he had to admit it.

Jack was silent. He sighed begrudgingly while averting his gaze and he looked at the white ceiling, aimlessly staring upwards, not wanting to look at her. And before he knew it and actually wanted to, lips parted, words escaped them, and he blurted the utter truth out. "There was this one girl named Elisabeth Vintre," he began, still not looking at her. He saw in the corner of his eye how Elsa looked up and got all his attention, raising in an utter slow movement one eyebrow upwards like a true master.

Jack looked at her, raising an eyebrow, while fumbling with his fork. "Elisabeth was the best at ice-skating and she even skated in national competitions at the age of fourteen. Somehow, she'd always managed to win the golden trophy. We were best friends and inseparable," he slowly felt how emotions struck him like lightning, but he didn't get over his mental wall and still looked at her, no through her, expressionless with mock.

"You see I wasn't popular in Elementary, Middle and part of High School. But there she was, my saving angel. She was very popular, and Queen Bee of the school, loved by everyone. We were opposites. She was popular, I was a loser, but that was the beautiful thing; she gave me a chance, she saw behind my insecurity. She immediately saw I was more than just 'a loser'. No, she was special. Normally you mostly see that the popular ones don't talk, or have contact with the 'losers', but Elisabeth... She was different,'' he said thoughtfully. He closed his eyes and thought of the twelve-year-old girl, whose face he blurredly remembered, but vague memories hadn't touched her beauty. Elsa was still listening to him, now not eating anymore. The look on her face, expressionless but somewhere he saw that she wanted to hear every sentence, every word, every second of what he was going to tell her.

And before he knew it he told everything. "I remember when I was sitting outside on the schoolyard when we had a break and she came to me, apparently to eat with me and get to know me better. I was thirteen and she twelve."

**FLASHBACK**

He walked with a plate filled with food in his hands towards one of the picnic tables that stood under a blossom tree that was in full bloom. It was spring and the weather was beautiful, while the sun shone through the soft pastel pink blooms. He inhaled the fresh air and approached a table. He usually sat alone at breaks. He was a loner, had no true friends, because he was too vulnerable and sweet for the real world and he'd soon encountered that; people threw props of paper at him, let him sit alone in the breaks and pretended that they didn't see him, that he didn't exist but now he was used to it after all those years.

It was his first day at his High School. His mum, sister and him moved from Boston to Chicago and he'd always had trouble with making friends.

**INTERRUPTION**

"Why did only you, your sister and your mother moved from Boston to Chicago?" Elsa asked confusedly.

"Oh my parents divorced after my sweet dad used to hit me, my father and left my mother for another wife who was richer. Apparently, he'd rather wanted to have a slut he calls his 'wife' between his legs, than a son in his arms." he scoffed, with mock in his eyes, still fumbling around with his fork.

The colour out of Elsa's face dropped to zero and in seconds she was as white as freshly fallen snow, but she still didn't show any clear expression that resembled an emotion he could place. Jack wanted to roll his eyes as he asked himself if this was fake compassion.

"Anyway-"

**FLASHBACK**

He approached his table, wiped all the blossoms away from it and began eating alone as usual while his classmates were all sitting at two other picnic tables. One table for the boys, one for the girls, cause 'oh my God' what if you sat next to a boy…

Yeah kids huh.

He was just eating his lunch when he heard footsteps behind him. He looked up, his messy brown hair moving with him. 'God hell no, it's Elisabeth Vintre, Queen Bee of the school' he thought. She was just too hot in the boy's opinion. He already had a crush on her even when he hadn't even talked to the girl.

"Hey, can I sit at this table?" she asked friendly, while she jerked her brown hair out of the way by moving her head to the side. Her blue eyes were friendly, and her smile was genuine like a blossom bloom. Like a blossom bloom the trees above him had that had just opened its leaves for him, to show him how beautiful she bloomed.

He felt himself blush furiously. He first shyly averted his gaze from her but demanded himself to look at her and then answered. "Y-yeah, sure," he stammered a bit off guard with a high pitched voice, not used to it that people were actually _talking_ to him, plus he was getting his beard in the throat and in situations like this it wasn't helping at all; he sounded like a total Chihuahua.

Elisabeth sat down next to him, put her plate with lunch on the table and began eating. He moved his head to her, never averting his gaze from the girl. She acted like she didn't see it, but he saw she looked in the corner of her eye at him, while suppressing a rambunctious smile full with grace while it was filled with mirth.

He saw how a blossom fell on her soft and long brown hair. She looked cute.

She then stopped eating, lay her cutlery down and faced him. "Hi, Elisabeth Vintre, for if you didn't know that," the twelve-year-old said friendly, while holding out her hand.

He observed her, raising an eyebrow in his amusing mock. 'Elisabeth Vintre for if you didn't know that' Jackie, the mischievous voice in his head, imitated her in a high-pitched tone. 'God, she is the most popular girl in the school and is famous in the whole country because the girl was known for ice-skating in regional competitions! How can I 'not know' her?!'

He got back to present and they shook hands.

"Jackson Overland."

**END FLASHBACK**

"I didn't know this girl was going to change my whole entire fucking life for ever. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes bad, anyway that's how we met. I first thought she wanted to talk to 'the new guy' and then leave to let me rot in hell, but I was wrong. She stayed with me, stood up for me when bullies approached me, and soon we became very good friends, soulmates even. But after one and a half years when I was almost fifteen the thing happened where I was so afraid of; I fell in love with her."

Elsa giggled. "Ahw, _Jackie_ in love! I can't make an image of that in my head, but I think it's cute," She smiled warmly.

Jack ignored her. "So, I fell in love with her. In the meantime when she was fourteen, she skated in national competitions and I was always at her side. Sometimes we trained together; I can ice skate too since I played in the ice hockey team of my high school" he smiled warmly, while he remembered those good memories of the little things that made is childhood good.

"But one day changed both of our lives. We went skating on the frozen pond nearby her house. It was March, and it was thawing but it had frozen two days ago. Her mother warned us, but I promised she would be alright. When we arrived she asked if it was safe, but I laughed and walked upon the ice, pulling her with me. We put our skates on and began ice-skating. I was chasing her, but we were both fast so I couldn't get her. We had a lot of fun, until we were very tired after two hours so we sat down, still on the ice. We laughed and talked, until I saw how cracks arose from under her. I tried to distract her, slowly lead her to a safe place so she wouldn't panic, but I was too slow."

Elsa hadn't interrupted him once; she let him talk. The whole story.

"She fell in and I dove in after her. I remember how the cold water hit me, the gushing water running past my ears, but all I tried was finding her in the endless depth. I didn't see anything, except for her hand that descended further down to the bottom of the pond. I grabbed it and swam to the surface. But I had to find the wack, something that was pretty hard. I felt how my lungs were screaming for any air, oxygen, anything. But soon I passed out with her. I almost sank to the bottom with her, when suddenly somebody jumped in and saved us. I was conscious, but Elisabeth... She was almost dead and it is a miracle she survived it."

He sighed before speaking. He felt how tears formed in his eyes as a result of being emotional. "The doctors told me and the family she wasn't able to ever skate again. I felt so guilty, and I knew as fast as the press would hear this, I wouldn't have a life once again; the national champion and maybe the best upcoming talent of the United States wasn't able to skate ever again because of _me_. My mother and I moved to San Francisco, I've changed my name from Jackson Overland to Jack Frost, changed my brown hair to silver and wear blue eye lenses which I still have but now they are kind of permanent. North helped me with changing my hair white permanently by manipulating my DNA. Although, I was a different person when I looked for the first time in my reflection after the 'transformation'; it just wasn't me anymore. But somehow I didn't mind. The new Jack Frost was born," he sighed heavily, while he swallowed the lump in his throat away.

He didn't understand it; why was he sharing this with her?

"Were you mad at her? Because of her you had to move," Elsa stated softly, while meeting his eyes. Her eyes, on the contrary of his, were full of curiosity and it looked like she cared about the girl he talked about. He got a strange feeling in his gut.

"First, yes... But now not anymore," he answered determinedly. "Funny thing was that I was so in love with her. I was drunk in love, but I had to leave her. It was for the best. My love has been unanswered. Forever," he said softly as he remembered her.

He cleared his throat and resumed speaking. "Well after that we moved away from Chicago and I went to a typical American high school in San Francisco. I was determined that the time where I was the loser was over. No one was going to crush me ever again so I made a mental wall like Victoria. First day in college was perfect; I got all the attention from mostly the girls with my white hair and blue eyes. I acted like the flirt, charming guy, troublemaker and soon I became the most popular boy of high school together with some Eugene who was my best friend back then."

"Then we graduated, a thing that was actually a miracle because we weren't doing anything for school; we were making out with every possible girl, partying, drinking alcohol and having in our opinion 'fun' in every possible way. Oh yes those were good times," he snickered, while he now distracted and bored twisted his fork in his pasta.

Elsa looked disgusted when he told the part of 'making out with every possible girl, partying and drinking alcohol'.

"After that I got into the ISA academy after I was caught at stealing something with Eugene. We were part of a street group. I got away with it by free running, since I do that since my fourteenth, but Eugene did not. When I thought I was safe and walked into a dark alley, suddenly somebody grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. Guess what. It was our good old North. He'd watched everything, had seen me running and escaping every possible police officer. He told me about the ISA, a thing that was like a myth, a legend for a boy like me with no safe home. The ISA was and is my home. It's where I belong. I joined the academy and here I am, twelve years later," he grinned. In ten minutes Elsa knew more of him than any other person in the world, because he had never shared his past with anyone else plus the ISA part was a thing practically no one knew.

The fact she knew his dad used to hit him was a thing only she knew. But he trusted her for some reason and he was curious if she had a background story as well, although he knew she wasn't a person to share her past in a story out of the blue.

"I've totally forgotten her, I got my life and she got hers, but I will never forget how we always sang a song, like it was our song," he smiled softly, while closing his eyes to hear the melody in his head. Before he knew it he began to mumble it with his eyes closed. Elsa was silent and watched him.

When he was done, he opened his eyes, and he saw how Elsa's eyes had widened in utter shock, while the colour again drained away from her face and it looked like she was going to faint in any second. "_Jackson_?" she stammered in shock. "Are you really..? H-how?"

Jack looked up, his eyes also widened in shock, while he almost had the idea he fell backwards in his chair onto the ground, but he could just find his centre of gravity. He looked in her eyes, trying to find recognition and then he saw it. "Elisabeth?! What the..- what on earth has happened to you?! Your hair was brown, you weren't called Elsa! No, this is all a lie! You're not Elisabeth! Why didn't you say anything when I told you the story of how you fell in the pond, that you knew a boy with the same story?! Why-"

"Stop, stop, _stop_! I will explain everything, but I still can't believe it. How could I not recognise you?! We are living for three months in one apartment and could have not seen this how on earth is this possible?" Elsa almost yelled in shock while she raised as she took a step backwards. Like she was almost afraid of him. He had the idea she was on a breaking point of almost crying and yelling at the same time.

"You had brown hair Elisabeth. And why have you changed it to Elsa Winters? That isn't your real name, right?" he asked in incomprehension, while he looked in her eyes. The agent thought this was awkward; he just told he was madly in love with her when they were young. He desperately hoped she didn't hear that part or just forgot it in the sea of information he'd given her.

"I've never really had brown hair you know. I dyed it brown and Elisabeth Vintre is my show name or well an alias. My father is very protective and wanted to give me privacy in my life. The name of my grandmother is Elisabeth, so we changed it to that and in Norway where my family has its origins Winter is Vintre. This is the real me! This is Elsa! I am Elsa not Elisabeth, Jack!" she exclaimed in astonishment, while walking towards him.

Jack was dumbfounded and couldn't speak. From the outside he was quiet, but from the inside he was yelling, screaming and most of all: asking questions to himself how it could've ever gotten so far. And how he could've never seen it; find recognition in her eyes, her way of acting, looking, laughing.

He observed her looked deep into her eyes. She had changed. Her sweet high pitched voice of a improvident frisky child voice was gone, the shimmering out of her blue eyes has disappeared, she was even more thin than when he met her, her hair was different. Everything was different, but there was no doubt this was Elisabeth now she'd said it.

"And you Jackson, what's happened to you? You've changed so much. Not only from brown hair and brown eyes, but also your personality!" Elsa almost exclaimed in shock.

He casted his eyes down, searching for his words. "I eh... I know," he sighed wistfully, not daring for some reason to look at her, while nervously scratching the back of his head.

Elsa raised and walked towards him and knelt on the ground. He looked in her eyes again and now he saw Elisabeth, his best friend who wasn't his best friend anymore. The soul mate he had lost. Her way of looking had changed and her attitude had changed.

They both had changed.

She lifted his chin, before cupping his cheek. "Almost fifteen years, Jackson. It has been almost fifteen years," she whispered. He looked up to meet her eyes. "Why did you leave me? I needed you in my rehabilitation. I had to learn how to walk again, a vertebra was broken, I... I was helpless. I needed you Jack and you weren't there for me when I needed you. After the accident you just left me, you just left, moved out of Chicago, not even saying where to, not even saying goodbye and you've never come back!" her voice wasn't offended, wasn't angry; there was only grief in it and for some reason it looked like she was different. The whole wall of defence, coldness faded.

There was no Elsa who spoke; no, it was Elisabeth.

"I-I... I just couldn't. I was already bullied in school, I was already a loser I was... I was already nobody. I was a coward... and I still am because if the same situation would happen again, I would still leave you," he confessed softly.

"I'm always running away from my problems," he sighed with grief in his voice, remembering painful memories, which cut painful wounds open.

"Why do you say that? It's only happened once, that 'running away for your problems'," Elsa said in a serious tone, while she sat down next to him. He saw how her hand slowly reached to his, but she pulled back and averted her head. It was still awkward and he asked himself if this taciturn and tensed atmosphere could ever be solved, if they could ever become soul mates again.

"Once?" he scoffed with mock. "No Elsa, I've done this more than once,'' he said with mock and disgust. He looked out of the huge glass which which gave sight over Manhattan. The moon had arose from the skyline. It was silent and only a siren was to be heard somewhere in the distance as he casted his eyes down. He remembered what a dick-head he was and that he had made wrong choices in his past that were still following him in his daily life.

"When?"

He turned his head to the left to look at her, eyes full of mock, while cocking an eyebrow at her. "When? Elsa, it's not your business," he almost snapped at her, and he knew it came out very cocky. "I have my past and I've made some choices back then," he said groaning, while his elbow rested on the table, and his forehead rested on his index finger and thumb.

"Oh…" Elsa said slightly offended, while turning her head away from him.

"It's nothing personal, it's just a sensitive part…of my life," he sighed, while again looking at her. "You know this whole 'running away from my fears' is really what Jackson always did, not Jack. Jack fights, is a fighter, goes into shootings like it's nothing, 'saves the world from destruction', takes a gun and shoots someone, acts like he has no fears and isn't a coward. From the outside I look like Jack Frost, but on the inside... it's still me, Jackson Overland."

Elsa looked in his eyes and smiled. "I know," she whispered with years in her eyes. "And now I see that."

"How is it possible that we didn't recognise each other?" he sighed, still dumbfounded.

"Jackson, last time I saw you, you were thirteen years old, you had brown hair, brown eyes, were the sweetest and most honest guy I had known, lived in Chicago. Now, almost fifteen years later when we are in the mid-twenties; you have white hair, blue eyes, live in the LA area on the other side of the country and there is nothing left of your 'sweet' personality because now you are the one-night stand guy and sometimes just a cocky jerk," she rattled matter-of-factly, while looking at him. She didn't lie, she was right.

"You too. Although I have to say, I could've recognised you by your stubbornness. That is something you've still got," he snickered, now teasing her. Elsa in the meantime walked back to her chair, sat down and snickered with him, while finally eating again. She sipped a pasta wisp and the sauce was everywhere. They both laughed. "You're crazy," he laughed. _He laughed._ He hadn't laughed for weeks. It was a genuine laugh and he now realised he didn't laugh often anymore. When was the last time he had burst out in laughter? Laughing till his stomach hurts. Laughing so the tears formed in his eyes while smiling till the muscles would hurt to his face.

He didn't know.

"You too," she laughed, while wiping off the sauce on her lips. "Want to taste?" she asked deviously, while holding the end of the spaghetti wisp between her fingers, and the other end was clamped between her lips.

He laughed, but took the wisp over and put it between his lips so the wisp was spanned between the two over the table. "_Owkay, who firwst gewts to the middwle_,'' she said, but she almost couldn't move her lips to keep the wisp in place, so it looked very cute.

"_Deawl,"_ he answered laughing. They began eating as fast as they could. "_Youwr sow deawd, Wiwnters_," he snickered, and speaking at the same time, while still eating the wisp, trying to be first in the middle.

Elsa laughed and they came closer and closer. Jack had to bend forward to reach the middle, while eating. They giggled like schoolgirls. They both hovered over the table and Jack was almost at the middle, while Elsa was eating the string very fast.

He reached the middle just like her and before he knew it his lips touched hers, almost like a kiss. They laughed and he immediately pulled back, just like her, slightly embarrassed.

"_I won!"_ they both yelled in victory, while pointing at themselves.

"No, _I_ won," they said again in unison.

"No, Jack _I_ won," "No Elsa _I_ won," they again said in unison.

They burst out in laughter, while they plopped down in their chairs and giggled a bit after. Elsa sipped some of her wine, but Jack couldn't stop laughing. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked giggling.

"There's sauce on your face," he snickered, while winking at her. It was like as soon as he knew she was Elisabeth, she stepped past her mental wall to reveal a smiling person who wasn't detached. Elsa moved her hand to her cheek and was blindly trying to find the place where the sauce was. "No, left," he said matter-of-factly. "Oh no, right," he added. "Or no, maybe in the middle."

"Jack!" she laughed. ''You still have the same bad humour," she giggled.

"Oh bring it on," he said sassily while snapping sassily with his fingers. He raised, walked to her and began to tickle her. Soon, the room was filled with laughter. He loved it when she laughed, it was full with joy and her laugh and smile was dazzling.

"Jack! Stop! Stop please!" she yelled while squirming, turning in her chair to escape him. She was smart and began with tickling him as well. Jack took a few steps backwards and fell in his chair, also laughing. "It's payback time, Jackson,'' she laughed. He wanted to escape her, by trying to raise, but Elsa was smart by laying her hands upon his shoulders, pushing him back in his chair and she put her knee on his upper leg.

"Ha! Got you." Elsa smirked deviously, while blowing a strand of platinum blonde hair out of her face. He couldn't go anywhere. He struggled against her grip, but Elsa held him in a perfect kung-fu position.

It was clear she'd paid attention to the martial arts training from the ISA.

"Elsa! Let me go for fucks sake!" Jack wined protesting, but Elsa could only smirk. He again tried to struggle against her grip, but she pushed him back every time, so he collapsed with his shoulder blades back in his chair.

"ELSA-"

"Jack, my knee is one inch removed from _Little Jackie_ and this is your first and last warning," she smiled deviously, while aiming with her knee between his legs. "You know the consequence," she whispered dangerously in his ears.

He swallowed, while following with his eyes her knee, which came with the next second dangerously close to his manhood, but he didn't dare to move. He wisely shut his mouth. Elsa smirked in victory, almost like Victoria, removed her knee, but began tickling him again and the room was in second filled with laughter. "Elsa! I can't survive this!-" Jack laughed with Elsa, who had the best time of her life. "Stop! Stop!" he laughed with tears in his eyes

She let go of him, but he groaned, before grabbing her arm and pulling her to him, so she fell on his lap laughing. "You're crazy, Jack," she giggled tipsy, while her legs were resting on the leaning of the chair, sitting on Jack's lap.

"You too Elsa Winters," he laughed back.

Oh, that girl was a devil and an angel in one.

Jack followed their evening schedule: he watched TV, while Elsa announced she was about going to change herself in her sleepwear so he wasn't allowed to come in at any reservation. He was laying on the couch on his side with his elbow on the surface and his head supporting his head, while zapping bored.

"_Jack! You can come in,"_ he heard Elsa saying. He thought she would never say it. He raised, walked to the bedroom, just when Elsa glided under the covers. He lifted his shirt off his torso and changed himself in his sweatpants, while he saw how Elsa was secretly looking at him in the corner of her eye while Whatsapping. He snickered softly, but it was covered by the sound of an incoming message in Whatsapp since she was online.

He switched the light off, so Elsa's dusky night lamp on the side on the bed stand was the only thing that gave light in the room. He glided under the covers, while Elsa snoozed her mobile, laid it on her bed stand, and turned on her side with her face to him.

He wanted to close his eyes, but then realised there was no Berlin wall of pillows; he met her blue eyes. "Eh... Elsa, aren't you forgetting something? Like the Berlin wall which divides_ your_ and _my_ side of the bed?" he asked suspiciously.

"Where is it?"

"Oh, I've abolished it," she shrugged smiling. "Goodnight," she said with a smile.

He smiled back before she switched the light off so the room filled itself with darkness. He closed his eyes with a smile as he softly chuckled.

Their first step to accepting each other was made.


	14. Chapter XIII Stilettos

**CHAPTER XIII: empty promises**

**JACK**

That night his heart pounded hard in his chest like a drum, his eyes widened and he raised in panic when he heard it. That scream. He recognised it; it echoed in his ears and it was filled with panic. The scream that was so penetrating and vigorously so he had the feeling he could cry. It screamed for help, comfort. He then realised the sound was made next to him. He blinked in the endless darkness of the night, trying to see something but it was pitch black.

He searched blindly for the switch of the bed stand lamp and when he finally found it after several times of miss grabbing, light fell onto Elsa who was practically lying with her head between Jack and her pillow. She was moving roughly, her forehead was covered in sweat and she was yelling like she was being raped. It hurt to his ears.

"Stupid nightmares," Jack groaned, while rubbing his eyes as he leaned against the headboard of the bed.

Elsa yelled again and she was crying now, begging someone to not leave her. "_I didn't want this! I didn't want this. I have regrets! I'm sorry!" _she yelled in her sleep. The next second she screamed again and a tear ran down her cheek. It was horrible to see her like this. She crawled up into a ball in her sleep and sobbed.

"Elsa, calm down," he whispered. He sighed. He couldn't wake her up since she probably wouldn't remember anything of what she had dreamed of anyway, plus she would kill him if she was going to find out he had awoken her in the middle of the night.

He sighed, rolled over to his side, grabbed his favourite book that laid on his bed stand and began reading.

**ELSA**

Eyes fluttered open to reveal a colour bluer than Polaris, heat beats increased and her under lip was bitten in fear. She felt how the salty tears ran down her cheeks. She now realised she was yelling and screaming. Her hearing sense finally began to work. She had a terrible nightmare about her past, about choices in life she'd made that she was regretting now.

She opened her eyes and saw that the bed stand lamp was on. The light stung to her eyes. She wanted to know what the time was; she looked at the window. It was still dark outside. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw that Jack was reading. He wore reading glasses and it looked very business-like. He wore black Ray Ban's.

Jack looked up for a second because he saw in the corner of his eyes how she was moving. He quickly took his reading glasses off and laid them on his bed stand to then face her. "Elsa, are you alright?" he asked concernedly, while he frowned with a worried expression.

"Jack, please explain to me why you're reading at half past three in the night,'' she spoke suspiciously, she now ignoring him.

"You had a nightmare and I couldn't sleep because you were yelling so loudly,'' he spoke soberly in a matter-of-fact tone. Then he continued when he saw her big blue puppy eyes with pout. "Come here, you need a hug," he offered, now lying completely under the covers. He moved to the middle of the bed just like her before both placed their pillows in the middle.

Elsa smiled in mirth and gratitude. He wrapped his arms around her, while spooning up against her. She felt safe in his arms. Finally after all those years she again encountered her best friend who was so important for her. He pulled his arms back and turned himself on his back. Elsa secretly wanted him to stay like that. It felt so good when he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled in her hair. Jack Frost was a flirt but with style and he always knew how to flatter any woman.

Jackson Overland on the contrary had always been the quirky, awkward best friend who was twenty-four/seven, three-hundred sixty-five days a year asking; 'does this hurt?' 'is it eh okay if I put my hand there?' and then she would always giggle and smile at him before telling him it was alright.

Jack moved his pillow back to his side and closed his eyes, the bed stand lamp still on.

"Jack?" she asked softly, casting her eyes a bit down. A hum in answer. "May I sleep on your side of the bed tonight?" she asked softly and insecurely. She immediately closed her eyes tightly, regretting her choice of words; she was scared what he would think of this sudden weird question.

He opened his eyes and he looked up, now turning his head towards her. "Of course," he smiled while lifting the sheets. Elsa made her way through the bed to Jack's side. He again wrapped his arms around her, and she laid her head on his chest. She heard his comforting heartbeat.

"Jack, what if I have another nightmare?" she whispered anxiously. She restlessly changed the parting of his hair, so it became even messier.

He switched the light off so the room filled itself with darkness, but now she wasn't scared anymore. She nuzzled in his sheets, his fierce Abercrombie &amp; Fitch perfume filling her nostrils. "That won't happen. I'm here. And I'll stay awake till you sleep," he whispered huskily in her ear.

She smiled and nodded softly. He lightly nuzzled in her hair before he turned to his side, still holding her in his arms and he spooned up against her. His hand ran caringly through her hair in this rhythmic pace for a long time and before she knew it she dozed off in his arms as she thought.

'We're goals AF.'

She awoke the next morning in Jack's arms. He was still sleeping. As always, he slept shirtless –still following self-willed his own rules- and when she turned around, she felt his abs when her hand accidentally went past them. She giggled and couldn't help it but trail over them.

The morning sun shone through the split of the curtains onto the bed. Jack was lying with his back in the sun, and Elsa was lying in his shadow. She felt the warmth of his arms, since he was still hugging her. Maybe from the inside he wasn't the cocky jerk she'd always thought he was. But it looked like after they discovered they used to be best friends, his behaviour changed and he stepped past his mental wall of being the cocky jerk. Also the _I-fucking-love-myself-and-everybody-may-know-that_ attitude slowly faded for her idea.

She ran through his messy hair, something that had become pretty much a habit of her with Jack, but he looked so cute with bed head hair. 'Blame Jack not me, right?' a voice in her head giggled. A sigh escaped her lips, thoughts wandering in a relaxed pace through the usual checklist of questions for the day. _When do we have to get up? Answer: When we want. Where am I and why? Answer: In New York, because I need to solve a case with a colleague. What day is it? Answer: Saturday_...

She raised in panic, but she did it with so much strength that when she pulled Jack's arms away, he almost fell off the bed.

_Saturday?_! And she asked herself what date it was. She rolled to her -cold- side of the bed and grabbed her mobile from the bed stand. She was trembling so much and panicking, she almost couldn't press the snooze button in. The screen lit and the date was to be seen. The _nineteenth of October..._and when she slid her finger down her screen to get the black curtain she saw her father's birthday was on the agenda.

She cursed whispering every second that consecutively passed. She felt how her heart raced in her chest. She looked at the clock. Half past nine in the morning. What was the time in LA? Six hours earlier... She ran through her hair in panic. She'd totally forgotten her father's birthday. She promised she would call her mother to say if she could come to the party. Her mother called her on Rodeo Drive three months ago.

The words echoed in her head.

"_Almost forgotten to ask, that was the reason why I called you. Could you come in two months to your father's birthday party on the nineteenth of October?"_

With an eyebrow that was cocked upwards in suspicion she asked why her mother had arranged this all so soon. She still stood in front of the window. "_Well, it has happened before that you didn't turn up at family parties, weddings and even funerals,_" her mother said matter-of-factly, now in an almost irritated tone, although it was still calm and tempted, almost laconic. Another furious blush. Elsa bit nerving her lip when Charlotte had spoken the utter but painful truth.

She got back to present when Jack yawned, turned around and opened his eyes. She met his striking blue eyes. "What's wrong Elsa?" Jack asked sleepily, while stretching himself out. He raised a bit and leaned against the headboard.

"My father. I said I would come to his birthday party and now I'm in New York, but one: my parents think I'm in LA because I 'live and work' there and two: of course they don't know what my real job is, but I lied to my mother I'm having over-labour!" she said in panic, while she looked at the ceiling. Jack frowned and looked at her. His hair was even messier with his bed head and of course she'd changed his parting when she lay in his arms and when he was asleep. He looked so cute now. Elsa smiled and snickered but immediately covered her mouth. "Sorry," she muffled, snickering. Jack probably saw her gaze, because he quickly ran through his hair, trying to fix it. A blush spread across his cheeks. "You look cute," Elsa giggled rambunctiously before rolling over to her side with her elbow on the mattress and she supported her head on the knuckles of her hand.

"Cute? Is that the word for a secret agent with the most gentleman suites who saves the world from destruction?" he said dramatically in a heroic tone, acting offended. Elsa snickered. She more and more enjoyed talking to him. "So, you have to call your dad now?" Jack asked matter-of-factly, going back to business.

"I can't! It's four o'clock in the night in LA!" she spoke stressed, raising her voice, but she felt this wasn't the best moment in the morning because it was a bit hoarse.

"Ah I see."

"Jack, my parents plus my sister Imogen are never going to forgive me this! I promised I would come," she said desperate with a tone of panic in it.

"You can miss it for once right?" he asked matter-of-factly while shrugging.

Elsa threw herself backwards on her back. She fell into the pillow, and a silence fell until she broke the lacuna of lack of words and noise. "Last year Jack. And the year before that and before that."

"What happened?" he asked interested. He rolled over to her side of the bed and tried to spoon up against her. He hovered himself over her shoulder, but Elsa turned on her side, not wanting to be cuddled now. In moments like this she just shut people out. She was convinced she didn't need any fluff; this was serious. Jack noticed her body language, rolled over to his stomach and laid his head on the mattress.

"I was in Paris and the year before that in Amsterdam and before that in Cape-Town. I promised every time I would come the next year and now I'm here in New York!" She felt tears forming in her eyes. She blinked them away. She knew her sister and parents were going to kill her. That wasn't the part where she cared about; no it was the part where she would disappoint them again.

Jack hugged her, but Elsa pulled away and broke eye contact with him, wanting to be left alone.

Jack sighed a bit before he spoke. "It's alright, Elisabeth." For some reason when he said that name, she felt safer. It was like he reminded her of her carefree childhood. "You can call your parents this afternoon and explain everything as far as that's possible," he suggested calmly and nicely. He tried to comfort her by placing his hand on her shoulder. She pulled it away, while a tear ran down her cheek.

"Are you crying, Elsa?" he asked with the confusion in his voice. He then chuckled in mock. "Why? It's just a birthday?-"

"You don't understand a single thing of it, Jack. I almost never see my family, my parents, Imogen, because of this work! I could hold on all the time, but now after five years it's breaking me. I always have to lie, where I am, what I am doing, where I work. I am tangled in my lies! My whole life is a lie and they have to live with it, but they don't deserve it!" Elsa sobbed now. Jack was in his 'hug Jack' mood while he hugged her again in comfort.

He shushed her as he spoke. ''Snowflake—"

"Don't address me like that! It makes me think of the nickname you gave me back when we were thirteen and I don't want to be remembered of it. It resembles change and I don't want that. Since then, everything has changed."

"Elsa, you have to change to stay the same.''

She looked up when she heard the quote. It was silent after his words and she blinked a few time with her eyes, processing all what he said. He was right.

''Anyway, do you think you are the only one with this problem? I have it too, Astrid, Hiccup, Merida, the whole ISA has it and what about Kristoff, your brother-in-law, with Imogen, your sister, huh?! He is about to marry a woman who he loves till the end and that guy is already drowning himself in lies. But that's the consequence of this work. You are putting someone else's needs, the world's before yours."

She closed her eyes and hugged herself. Then she got up and left the room without answering. She entered the living room and walked to the window that gave sight over Central Park.

Jack sighed heavily and followed her, running through his bedhead hair as he leaned with her arm against the doorpost of their bedroom. "Elsa, call your parents or your sister in four hours after we've had breakfast. I promise, it's going to be alright. And if not, super Prince Charming Jack is in the house," he spoke heroically while pointing at himself with a smile.

She wanted to protest, but when she realised she had no other choice she gave in.

"I can't do this! I—"

"Elsa, call your sister," he demanded magisterially, his blue eyes ice cold. They stood in the living room across from each other and it was four hours later. He cocked an eyebrow at her in a dominant way.

She stared at her phone that lay in her hands and then back to Jack but then she dialled the number. "Please don't answer, please don't-" Elsa's pleaded whispers were cut off when the monotone beep was replaced for the happy squeal of her baby sister.

She felt her heart drop.

"_With Imogen! Oh Elsa, I can't wait to see you in an hour! We are going to have so much fun! I haven't seen you in nine months! That's like a baby worth!"_ Imogen giggled, but Elsa felt immediately emotional when she heard the voice of her lovely baby sister and a few silent tears full of grief rolled over her cheeks. "_And of course Kris will be there finally! He's gone a lot lately but now everybody will come! Of course we first need cake, drinks and then maybe.. O my god will Kristoff stay here in LA? Maybe and I- eh El? What's wrong?"_ Imogen stopped with rattling her whole story, now worried when she heard suddenly a sob.

"Imogen," Elsa sighed, and wiped a few tears away. "I-I can't come," she whispered with a hoarse voice, feeling guilty and like a bad person.

There fell a silence on the other side of the line. Elsa closed her eyes, ready for a yell, a snap and everything at once. "_Y-you what_?" Imogen whispered in disbelief. "_Repeat it_," she said now clearing her voice from confusion, being sure she'd misheard it. '_'__G__jenta det, Elsa,_'' the half Norwegian repeated.

"Du hørte meg, Imogen!" Elsa snapped irritated in Norwegian, actually not wanting to explain more. She stared at the ground, not daring to face anyone. Not even Jack.

"_Elsa!__Du har lovet det! Y-you've pr-promised it!" Imogen sobbed first in Norwegian, then in English. "You're a liar! Du er en løgner! Hvorfor gjør du dette mot meg og våre foreldre?! Du savnet sin tjuefemte årsdagen for deres bryllup! Og begravelsen til bestemor! Du er aldri der når vi trenger deg, men du forventer av oss at vi er der for deg når du trenger oss!_" Imogen sobbed heartbroken, and Elsa heard in her voice how her grief replaced for angriness. Imogen spoke about how she was never there for her family and how she had let her sister down. Plus the last sentence hurt her most; 'you are never there when we need you, but you expect from us to be there when you need us'.

"I'm sorry, Imogen! It isn't my intention to-"

"_Where are you now? Why can't you come again? Because of 'over-labour'?!"_ Imogen spoke sarcastically. This was totally not Imogen; her strawberry blonde haired sister was sweet, quirky and awkward in the best way, but this was just so out of character of her. Elsa couldn't place it. Never had her sister yelled at her like this.

"I can't say where I am now," Elsa said softly, hating her work at this very moment so much she had the feeling she wanted to quit.

Jack opened his mouth to speak. "Elsa, you are explaining too much. Cut the conversation off-"

"_Who is that? Is that a men voice in the background? Oh my God Elsa, are you sleeping with someone? Are you having one-night stands?! Who is he?! Do I know him?! Are you having sex with your ex Dylan?!"_ Imogen exclaimed in shock with a squeal.

"No! No! No! No!" she immediately yelled. "I am _not_ sleeping with Dylan! No, I'm not sleeping with someone, in eh one bed."

"And again a lie," Jack whispered deviously. Elsa shot a quick death glare at him before turning her back towards him. She cast her eyes down to stare confoundedly at the ground.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter, I have to go. Tell mum and dad all this and—"

"_Oh I will! Dad and mum will be so angry and disappointed! They are having more and more quarrels the past months, because dad is convinced you're hiding something. You are so lucky mum keeps protecting you! This is the first time in weeks they've talked to each other. Thank you for screwing up the family bond again! You have shut me out all these years and now it's my turn, here is where I slam the fucking door in your face!"_ Imogen yelled ferociously and without waiting for an answer she hung up the phone.

Elsa heard the monotone beep. She threw angrily her mobile on the dining table, leaned against it with her butt, buried her face in her hands and cried her eyes out. Jack hugged her very cautiously, still a bit scared that she could reject him again. She didn't reject him, no; she clamped herself upon him, crying harrowing in his chest, needing him now.

"When you said you had a sister Imogen when we were sitting in the car before you discovered Victoria cuts herself, I didn't know you are Elisabeth, so I didn't know who Imogen was I thought. But I remember Elisabeth -you- had a sister. Is this her? If this was Imogen, then it's totally not the Imogen I remember," Jack mumbled almost unintelligible, his arms still wrapped around her svelte from, as he supported his chin on her head.

"In-indeed, this is no-nothing of h-her!"

**JACK**

Elsa was reacting the last time so sensitively and emotionally not steady. He was convinced something was wrong with her but he couldn't figure out what. She was quickly irritated, everything had to be done in her way and it looked like she had constant PMS or maybe a slight Disorder.

He shushed her. ''It's alright. Just..." He stopped and asked himself how was he going to say this well so she wouldn't become offended, angry or even more heartbroken. "Just... Let it rest. Imogen is angry now, but she is just shocked and disappointed. She's startled and confused. People do weird things if they are mad, scared or stressed," Jack whispered comfortingly, while he softly laid his hand on the back her head and he gently pulled it to his chest. She fumbled with his blouse, as he felt how her warm tears pierced through the thin fabric.

Suddenly she pulled him away and walked towards the coat stand. He raised an eyebrow. "Elsa, where are you going to?" Jack asked confusedly, while raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just going outside... shopping. I saw some cool dress at the Chanel store three days ago," she mumbled. The handle of her designers bag rested over her arm. She wanted to open the front door and leave him again, but he was quick; he ran towards her to then grab her by her shoulders from behind and turn her around. She let out a yell and he pinned her in seconds against the wall, looking straightly in her eyes with a look that said 'huh I don't think so, madam'.

Elsa yelled and tried to struggle against him. "LET ME GO!" This was totally not Elsa, and it wasn't even close to how the sweet Elisabeth used to be. Her whole being was changing. She was acting strangely and it looked like she had a manic episode. She was like Victoria now; roles were reversed. He felt like Elsa who was trying to hold an unruly Victoria in place that had a manic episode.

"No. Give me you credit card. _Now_," he demanded magisterially, while holding out his hand. He let go of her. Elsa rolled her eyes but opened her bag, revealed her wallet and gave him what he wanted. She laid it in his hands, but he cocked meticulously an eyebrow at her. Elsa was too calm for her being. Her credit cards were her everything, _her babies_. He knew she would never obey so fast. "You have more credit cards, haven't you?" he smirked confidently. Elsa wanted to glide past him, but he dominantly placed his arm in front of her with his hand on the wall so he made a barrier in front of her.

"Of course not!" she squeaked.

"Elsa," he warned playfully.

Elsa narrowed firmly her eyes in a death glare. "Okay! Okay!" Groaning, she crossed her arms and turned her head to the side.

"How many do you have?" he asked authoritatively, like this was a cross-examination.

"Six other ones," she said so fast it was almost unintelligible. She held her wallet in her hand and he saw how her grip tightened around it; her knuckles turned white.

"Give me your wallet," he held his hand out. "Give it to me."

"Huh? What do you think you're going to do with it?! You have nothing to do with my wallet," she defended herself self-willed.

"What should I find in it?" he asked annoyed.

Elsa opened her mouth to speak but then stammered a bit. Finally she spoke after awkwardly stumbling over her words. "_M-money_."

He rolled his eyes and said strictly and impatiently. "Elsa, now!" She tried to protest, but he had already grabbed the wallet out of her hands and searched in it. He pulled outseven credit cards, not six.

Liar.

He showed them to her. Elsa tried to grab them out of his hands, but he walked away. ''Give me my _babies_ back!" she cried while chasing him. Jack walked faster as he snickered deviously in a cunning way. "Jack, come here!" Elsa kicked her stilettos out and began running through the apartment, following Jack. He could only laugh. She behaved like a true six-year-old and reacted exactly how he wanted. '_Jack, give it back!' 'Give my babies back!'_ He loved it how she pleaded, begging almost on her knees for him.

The whole world was willing to serve Jack Frost.

Jack also kicked his shoes out and began running now to be faster than Elsa who almost overhauled him. The free runner took a shortcut by jumping over the couch from behind to then land back on the ground and he ran further.

Elsa overhauled him and grabbed the credit cards out of his hands. She ran towards the chair next to the dining table and jumped on it. He groaned in dismay. She held her credit cards in the air so he couldn't reach it. "Catch it if you can," she sang in a childish lilt, smirking from ear to ear. He saw how she had to restrain herself from sticking out her tongue. He felt like a child again, not like a man in the mid-twenties but he didn't mind. He liked playing games. Jack was smart; he first tickled her where she had her weakness – which was in her waist- so she couldn't protest and after that he picked her up before he tried to grab the credit cards out of her hand.

Elsa was laying in his arms, struggling against him while yelling. "LET ME GO!"

"No!" Jack again tried to grab the credit cards out of her hands, but Elsa held it away from him with her free hand. She wrapped her other arm around his neck so she wouldn't fall because he held her in one arm, which supported her butt.

They got into a fight. "ELISABETH! Give them now!" She was still kicking to loosen herself, but he held her tightly.

"I'm going to crotch you if you don't let me go right now!" she menaced almost conniving while raising her voice.

"Go ahead," he groaned back while sighing because Elsa now began to drum with her fists on his chest. She tried to kick him, but Jack held her tightly by her legs, before he jerked her over his shoulder, so her diaphragm and stomach dug into his shoulder. Wails, yells and struggles were thrown into battle against him, while Jack held his other -free- hand out to grab the credit cards, but Elsa tried to hold her _babies_ safely away from him.

He almost got them, but Elsa threw herself backwards and luckily he caught her so she lay in his arms again. Jack made another attempt to grab the credit cards while Elsa lashed out with her hand upwards to hit him hard on his nose. He groaned in pain, and he almost dropped her. He felt the tears burning in his eyes, as well a stinging pain in his nose. He held his hand upon it in a reflex, biting his under lip hard and bending forwards. His nose just got a nose job and now Elsa screwed it up.

He cursed whispering in pain of all the words he could think of.

"Jack! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" she said in panic. He leaned forwards, still holding his nose in pain. God, he could cry. He looked up and removed his hand. She touched his nose very softly, but he groaned in his pain. "I'm so sorry Jack," she whispered flurried. He could see tears forming in her eyes. "Oh God! You're bleeding!" she said in a slight panic, before running to the kitchen to get a cloth.

He sat down at the dining table, still holding his nose in his hands. He felt the warm blood coming in contact with his hand and just when it slipped through his fingers, Elsa had ran back and handed a cloth over to him. He pressed it on his nose.

"I'm so sor-"

"_Sorry_? I know," he shot with mock at her in a cocky tone, before he let out a groan when the bleeding didn't stop.

"Oh Jack," she said softly, casting her eyes down in regret, while she wrapped one hand around the wrist of her other arm.

A sign in body language when you felt uncomfortable.

"It's alright," he said softly. Elsa carefully laid her hand with the cloth in it on his nose. She pinched the upper part of it to close the vein that guided the blood supply to his nose. She had experience with it and he thought it was very sweet of her how she helped him. There was silence for a moment while Elsa stopped his bleeding nose. Frankly, he felt how the blood ran slowly in his oesophagus, but eventually it stopped. His nose was pounding and it felt sore.

Their eyes met for a second and Elsa smiled softly with comfort while she slowly and carefully removed the cloth. It was pretty sturdy how she handled all this blood. "Geez, it looks like I'm on my period," he groaned when stared at the bloody cloth. -Not that he had really knowledge of it-

Elsa giggled. "Believe me Jack, this is nothing compared to being on your period," she smiled softly, while she walked towards the kitchen to wash the blood off the cloth.

"Is it worse?" He asked, while looking up.

"You are bleeding non-stop for what can vary from three to sometimes even six days, dear," she explained matter-of-factly, as she turned her head over her shoulder, while she washed the blood off the cloth at the same time. The sound of the water clattering into the sink was heard.

"Does it hurt?" he asked curiously.

"Like the previous month when I discovered Victoria cuts herself? No, I didn't feel anything but there are months I have the idea I am dying out of the pain."

"Must be bloody hell.Literally," he whistled. Elsa laughed, while she scratched the back of her head. Jack decided to open the conversation subject he was worried about. "Elsa, do you know why I wanted your credit cards?" he spoke seriously, while he tried to make eye contact with her. Elsa looked up to then shake her head softly.

"You're buying your feelings away."

"That's not true!"

"Yes! Yes you are!" He raised his voice on a tone that said 'admit it'. "I'll give you some examples! First, you wanted to dodge me because we had to live for eight months in one fucking apartment, in one fucking bed when you didn't like me! Then Mrs. Vintre felt invaded because she isn't used to living with a man -who is constantly in her presence- in one house, and you have the idea you have to give up your whole private life! Elsa, we are colleagues. We're mature and it's time you behave that way! What we had, that's what we had as teens! We were best friends, soul mates, but now not anymore! Everything has changed, everything is different and just fucking accept it!" he yelled while he raised his voice even more.

He caught himself at broaching a conversation topic that wasn't particularly the one he wanted to talk about now. Elsa was shocked by his sudden angriness. "Secondly, I saw you three months ago at Rodeo Drive when you were shopping. By the way that same day we both had to come to headquarters to get our case. But anyway, I walked behind you but you were so busy calling someone—"

"My mum who asked that I had to come to the birthday party of my dad," Elsa rattled with crossed arms, while she leaned on her right foot. She jerked her left hip sassily out while she averted her gaze from him, her eyes noticeably narrowed.

"Okay whatever, it was your mum. I saw you were stressed and that you weren't comfortable with the situation. Of course I couldn't hear everything because I walked behind you, but I could make up you weren't comfortable. After that, you stood still but I walked further to get my new watch. Well, I didn't see you anymore, but thirty minutes later I drove back home to then go to the ISA headquarter. So I drove back past the Jimmy Choo store and guess what, who was walking out of it with her new bought _babies_? _You_," he spoke wisely, while he crossed his arms, being sure of his illation. ''You have just always the same damn pattern in your behaviour once you feel fucked Elsa and don't deny it!''

"So? What's your point?" she said sassily, while judging him with her eyes. Her blue orbs were filled with defence as they trailed up and down his body to criticise him, but she did it apparently with the main purpose to intimidate him. Not that he was scared of her _drop-dead deathly_ but most of all beautiful eyes.

"My point is," he sighed, not knowing how to bring this credible. "I could immediately make the connection-"

"How?" she harshly interrupted him, while she lifted her chin.

"I'm an agent in work for a secret service, I am trained to read body language, suspicious demeanour, whatever more that has to do with the human strategy of handling situations. You should know that by now honey_,_" he spoke in a duh and mellifluous tone.

Elsa sighed and averted her head, not wanting to acknowledge. "Come on promise me you won't do it anymore. Just talk about it with someone, please. It's the best. Clothes and shoes don't talk back, people do," Jack said softly in a serious tone, not making a joke of this at all. He was worried if no one told Elsa this she would never see it.

"I-I can't! I have nobody to-" Jack interrupted her silently by pointing at himself with puppy eyes and a heartbreakingly cute smoulder expression that said 'and me?'. "Okay, I've got you," she gave in with a sigh, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Exactly. So, do you promise?" he frowned while a tone of worry formed in his voice, the man now becoming more serious and he tried to look behind the Elsa's eyes to find Elisabeth in them, but it was hard. Elsa had built a wall around herself.

Elsa looked up, her blue eyes questioning and insecure, while she fumbled with his hand. She studied him that was clear. Her gaze was a bit piercing but at the same time her blue eyes were friendly and soft. It was like she tried to see if she could trust him. He felt anxious for a moment when there fell a silence and he was a bit apprehensive she would reject him, but then her frown replaced for a bright, genuine and comforting smile.

"I promise."


	15. Chapter XIV things to hide

**CHAPTER XIIII: Elisabeth, the fallen angel**

**JACK**

The next day, Jack was writing a mail to his boss, North, about the progression of the case. A bowl of colourful M&amp;M's was standing next to his MacBook on the dining table and at some time he would jerk an M&amp;M in the sky to catch it effortlessly with his mouth, still typing. This trick never got and has never gotten him bored. He bended closer to his screen so he saw the misspelling he'd just made better. He pressed the delete button in when Elsa walked out of the bedroom.

He looked up and noticed she changed herself into other clothes than she wore this morning; instead of her sleepwear, which existed out of sweatpants and a loose shirt, she wore now a sand coloured dress with ruffles, diamond earrings shaped in the form of a heart as they shimmered for a second when a beam of sunlight shone on it. He had to admit that she looked stunning. It looked like Elisabeth had fallen out of the heavens.

He stared attentively in mirth at her from head-to-toe, admiring her beauty and he had to restrain himself of letting his jaw drop. "Going somewhere?" he asked snickering with the nonchalance in his tone, and he looked up from staring at his screen before he shifted in his chair to sit more slumped, trying to look 'cool'.

"Yes, I'm going shopping. Want to go with me?" she asked smiling in mirth, while she put her half-long natural platinum hair into a bun in front of the mirror. Elsa looked at him in her reflection, while she was fumbling with her ear hangers, because her hair was tangled in it. He saw how she groaned in pain for a second, her face frowning severely when she moved her head a bit to the left because her hair was tangled in her ear hangers so they were pulled out of her ear but soon she'd managed to release her hair out of the claws of silver and diamonds.

He raised an eyebrow with mock while he let out a rambunctious chuckle. "So I can carry all your bags like your personal slave? No thank you. Thereby, I need to finish my mail. Plus, sure you're feeling alright and that this is not just compulsive shopping?" he scoffed before he bended himself again more to his computer screen, so his nose almost touched it.

He once had this old philosophy teacher, a flimsy man of around sixty years that had a few white hairs on his bald head, who saw so badly so that he always bended super closely to surfaces if he had to read something. Example was that when he was typing things down on his computer and he had to see a spelling mistake, his nose was practically touching the screen as his neck was all stretched like he was a giraffe. He remembered how hard he and his friends had laughed when they saw it for the first time.

"No, I could use some company," she mumbled absently, while she adjusted her bun with bobby pins as some of them were clamped between her peach coloured lips, so she could pick them easily and put them in her hair from time to time. She looked dashing when she was done in his opinion. After they'd discovered what persons really used to be for each other, things got nicer and now he finally understood why Dylan, her ex boyfriend and almost fiancé, fell for her and what he saw in her; she was an angel and a devil in one.

The combination of the two was like a euphoric sensation in ecstasy that he could describe as tasting ambrosia, heavenly food of the Ancient Greek, served together with nectar, made by the gods and goddesses of the Olympus themselves. Some scientists were convinced the Ancient Greeks used the term for honey, but he was sure it was nothing more but pure gold melting on your lips.

He corrected the misspelling in his mail, got out of his world of gods and goddesses and looked up. He grabbed his iPhone, unlocked it, slid his finger downwards, so he got the black frame and looked at his agenda. _No events scheduled for today_ was to be seen as well for tomorrow. He sighed begrudgingly although he gave in and locked his phone again. "Okay, but I'm not going to carry all you bags," he sighed with a quick cock of his eyebrows. Elsa smiled brightly, before the smile turned into a smirk, filled with temptation and mischief.

He felt like Zeus sometimes, who was the most powerful of all gods, goddesses, people, nymphs. He had leadership over the world, the sky and the mighty mountain Olympus. The god could get every lady as his inamorata, consort, but lately Artemis, goddess of the hunt and Aphrodite, goddess of love, were playing games with him now they had linked their arms as best friends; he wasn't waiting for inamoratas, no, he was _hunting_ for them, quivering to taste their ambrosia. As a result of these two devil goddesses teaming up, he caught himself at hunting for especially one goddess and one goddess only lately; Elsa, who had become for him goddess of _heavenly perfection _if you saw her slight curves mixed with this oblivious innocence that drove him crazy. He was waiting for Aphrodite to tempt him with her love belt that her husband Hephaestus, god of the ironwork, had made for his consort. Aphrodite used it to make people fall in love with each other. The belt was characteristic for the femme fatale, and he was willingly waiting for her visit.

And then, you could call him _Jackie_, god of _head-over-heels._

Half an hour later the two walked arms linked over Fifth Avenue and Elsa couldn't stop talking about the newest fashion she'd seen in Paris and Milan the previous Autumn, but Jack listened to all what she said like he was the sweetest husband you could possibly get.

They walked in the busy crowd of people as they sometimes bumped occasionally elbows, the crowd surging around them. Tireless as well _annoying_ tourists -because they were known for their slow pace and character trait of admiring every possible thing they saw- walked in front of them. People who had to get back to work as quickly as possible walked past them as they were simultaneously telephoning with business relations. Businessmen in formal suits -where every woman almost got a whiplash from because they all turned their heads so quickly when they saw them- walked past the couple, and rich women who profited of the wealth of their billionaire husband with their Chanel bags, king size perfectly clipped poodles and their personal shopper on their side walked over the Avenue as well to fill the well-known but most of all busy street image of New York.

''Jack, I need to talk to you," she began seriously. Their eyes met. "We need you to get new clothes,'' she spoke matter-of-factly. She turned her head to a window where she saw Prada stilettos and she gasped. Jack quickly pulled her with him before she would run into the store and buy fifteen new_ 'babies'._ Like how there were single grandmas with twenty-five cats, Jack was convinced Elsa was going to end up being a single grandma with twenty-five pairs of _shoes_.

He gave in with a roll of his eyes and about an hour later Jack had ordered a new suit and Elsa had chosen the fabric, lining, and matching shoes. She had linked her arm in his, and Jack felt how their bond got better and better. Thereby, he really liked her now, although it felt still strange this was Elisabeth.

''Hey I thought… now you have chosen my new clothes, how about that it's my turn for you now?'' he began with a smile.

''Go ahead,'' she grinned.

**ELSA**

Elsa waited on a comfortable couch in her favourite boutique, while Jack was searching a dress for her. He was surprised when he saw how much wealth he could find in these designer shops.

She saw how he was shoving all kinds of dresses to the side on their clothes hangers when he suddenly found something. He grabbed a size three dress for her, grabbed her hand with no warning and led her to a changing room. "Here you go," he winked, while shoving the curtain to the side so she could change herself. White leather couches across the changing rooms caught the fella's eyes and he sat on one of them.

She stood in the changing room, holding the dress on its clothes hanger in her hands as she held it next to her, looking if she would even fit in. She smiled in mirth; she couldn't wait to try it on. The dress was beautifully finished with all kinds of ruffles under the skirt and lace adorned the chest area.

She compared her body with the dress but then discovered that it was maybe too small. 'No, maybe you are just too fat,' a voice in her head commented bitchy.

Elsa sighed and she felt how tears formed in her eyes while the corners of her mouth dropped dramatically and noticeably. She threw the dress on the little seat in the corner of the changing room and stared at her reflection while a tear without blinking escaped the corner of her eye.

Even after all those years was the voice still there.

**JACK**

He had been sitting for already seven minutes on the couch when his eyes trailed down to look under the curtain. Jack saw how her feet stood lifelessly on the ground. She wasn't moving, probably just staring impassively at her reflection and somehow he got a bad feeling in his gut. If women liked clothing they changed pose, turned around to see how their body looked before they would speak lines to their shop companion like 'wait I'll be there soon you have so see this!' before sassily throwing the curtain of the changing room to the side to show themselves, or they laughed before they mumbled you didn't want to see their outfit because they looked in their opinion ridiculous in that dress. And then they would add quickly; 'You see, I just wanted to prove polka dots are _so_ _2014_…' But Elsa hadn't made a sound till now.

Then he heard a soft sob.

"Eh El? Everything alright?" he asked worriedly, while he raised and walked towards the changing room. He stroked the sleeve of his formal suit well and leaned with his side of his shoulder against the wall of it, arms crossed. "Can I come in?" he asked a bit worriedly, while he laid his hand on the curtain, ready to shove it to the left so he could see her.

_"No!"_ Elsa said quickly in slight panic and he pulled his hand away. Jack looked down and it looked like Elsa finally 'woke up', because her feet began to move again. He looked up when he heard the panic and almost tears in her voice and he asked himself if she was alright.

He snapped out of his concerning thoughts when Elsa had jerked the curtain to the side. He looked up and his jaw literally dropped. Awkward, but he couldn't help it. The dress looked very good on her, it was fitting her body so well and it laid accentuation on her hips. He had the idea he was already fainting when he saw her. He felt like he was struck by lightning. He couldn't place the euphoric feeling and he hadn't had it in a long time.

''Fucking hell,'' he whispered in astonishment before he recovered himself and began over-new when he saw the suspicious cock of Elsa's eyebrows. It was clear she didn't know if this cursing was in a good or bad way. "You are... A goddess," Jack whispered blown away, while his eyes widened, determined to see every part of her body to admire her beauty. '_My_ goddess you mean.' Jackie, the voice in his head, corrected him snorting, but Jack from the outside was silent as the voice Jackson took the lead again, not daring to let Jack change the 'a' into 'my'.

Elsa smiled a bit shyly and she blushed while scratching the back of her head before she consecutively cast her eyes down. "Jack, could you help me with the zipper, please?" she asked softly, while turning around as she held her long hair a bit up because for some reason she'd pulled it out of her bun.

'Little Jackie, stay _down_,' was the thing he told himself when he saw how beautiful her bare back was. There was a built-in-bra into the dress so she'd put hers off. Her shoulder blades were well formed and her back soft when he trailed over it with his fingertips, trying to find the zipper.

The voices in his head were yelling and quarrelling with each other about what more to say to her, one being Jackie, the mischievous voice, and the other one Jackson, the sensitive one. Jackson yelled he had to behave himself while _Jackie_ was thinking of everything God had forbidden.

He got back to present and laid his fingers on the zipper, pulling it slowly up, till it had reached her neck.

"It's too tight," she groaned while turning around.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "No, why would you think that? Maybe you even need a size two," he noticed, now laying his hands on her waist, checking how much fabric there was left. He felt her hip and he had for one second the sudden feeling he wanted to trail very slowly down with his hands so she would almost faint in his arms, begging and pleading for him to go further.

But he then realised he was daydreaming far too much, while Jackie kept on yelling dauntlessly; 'grab her ass! Grab her ass!' and then Jackson would turn crimson and would rather disappear in shame.

"No, that's impossible. I don't fit in a size two," Elsa said softly, while moving her head in his direction. Jack had still laid his hands on her waist, as he trailed now to her hips, pulling her body a bit backwards, so he felt how her back bumped into his torso. He nuzzled in her neck before he trailed down with his nose. He felt so good when he saw her and he thought she was simply engaging and splendid. Life felt suddenly better now. She looked so seductive, not even knowing it herself and he thought that made her even more adorable.

"Yes, you do. Feel this?" he almost whispered in her ear in a huskily tone and his hand moved to her waist again. "Too much fabric," he whispered in her ear and he saw to his amusement how the goose bumps arose on Elsa's skin, arm hairs standing straight up and he felt how a shiver ran down her spine in pleasure when his hair tickled a bit to the side of her head. That she even accepted this physical contact. "And here," and he trailed further up to her chest area. "Too much."

Elsa cleared her throat. "Are you saying now my boobs are too small, Jackson?" she spoke warningly, almost offended while raising amusedly at the same time an eyebrow at her husband now she'd turned her head in his direction. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, cocking challengingly an eyebrow in the mirror at him, before turning around to face him.

"I wouldn't dare to, princess_,_" he teased. "No, but I mean it… try a size two," he said seriously with a nonchalant shrug, now switching back to his normal voice again.

"Jack! I don't fit in a size two!" she protested while crossing her arms and he saw how the tears emerged in her eyes for some reason. He asked himself what was happening and why she was suddenly so emotional.

"And why wouldn't you then?" he asked resolutely, now also crossing his arms as he lifted his chin to come over like he was bigger to overshadow her a bit.

"Because I'm too fat for that," she whispered with a hoarse voice as she cast her eyes down.

Jack raised an eyebrow before he hugged her to comfort his colleague and when they broke apart, he laid his hands on her shoulder. He stared in her blue lagoon eyes. "You aren't Elsa! You should know how thin you are! Almost..." he sighed before speaking because this was a very sensitive conversation subject. "Almost too thin, if I may say so," he added softly in a serious tone that was filled with worry and he wrapped his arms around her to hug a now sobbing Elsa. He saw how her shoulders jolted uncontrollably.

When they'd broken apart from their hug, he caressed her cheek softly before his hand trailed down with a gentle movement to lay it under her chin and he tilted her head so he could look in her ocean of blue orbs. He didn't want to see her like this and he still had a nauseous feeling in his gut that this was serious stuff.

"Come, we need to talk," he mumbled, although it was in a determined tone and he placed consecutively his arm over her shoulder before he pulled her close and gave her a kiss on the side of her head.

"B-but Jack I don't need a conversation with you. I'm fine," she sobbed, while moving her head upwards to the side so the two met each other's faces.

"Yes, you do and now you are going to listen to me if you want it or not," Jack said magisterially and he led her out of the shop.

Sooner yet later they went to the first Starbucks cafe they had seen and now they were sitting on a bar stool at a high table, close to a window which gave sight over hundreds of busy tourists that walked past them, as yellow cabs were driving in front of them away from their temporarily parking spot. The well-known coffee smell of Starbucks shrouded them as it filled their nostrils. It was busy; the talking was everywhere and as always there stood a row that was long enough to fill up three other Starbucks cafes. All the other tables were practically filled with students, tourists and business people. Most of them were doing business on their computer or they were doing things on their smartphones, all of them using the free and well-known free Wi-Fi hotspot of the prosperous multinational.

The talking and cosiness hung in it air, but there were two persons who sat in constant silence, both not daring to start the painful talk that was about to come, but after two minutes Jack broke the silence by clearing his throat and Elsa snapped out of her so to see dream trance by staring forward without even bothering to blink.

"Elsa, be honest to me…do you have a eating disorder?" Jack asked resolutely and he tried to find eye contact, but in vain.

Elsa looked up. She let out a cold chuckle with mock. "Huh, of course not. Who do you think you are to think that I would do such things," she scoffed while moving her head to the left to jerk her long bangs out of the way which had become a long lock of hair she always put behind her ear. And again, the last part of her sentence was this typical answer Victoria would give as well.

"_Did _you have you an eating disorder?"

Elsa looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Why would you even care about that?" she hissed coldly while her eyes became deathlier with the second, almost Victoria-like. He saw how she was building at the moment a concrete mental wall around her.

"Elsa! Doesn't it say enough that I freaking ask it because I fucking care about you?!" he sighed irritated. Elsa was so not into giving personal information away and it annoyed him.

"Okay..." Elsa spoke while running through her hair, before she laid her elbows on the table to support her head on her hands. She stared confoundedly down at the wooden surface underneath her. Jack couldn't see her face, but he saw how a clear tear fell down. A tear filled with desperation and grief.

"I had one. When I was a teen," Elsa sighed and whispered almost inaudible before the next second three other salty tears fell down onto the table. He looked at her. She looked so small and fragile. Maybe that was the reason why she didn't like it when he saw her changing her clothes; because she was insecure, he realised then. She had no idea how beautiful she actually was in his opinion. He moved his chair forward and hugged her. Elsa placed a hand on his chest as well her head, and he felt soon how the hot tears soaked his blouse. She clamped herself onto him like he was a life buoy but it was alright, he was there for her.

He shushed her as he rocked her in his arms. ''It's alright, Elisabeth." He caught himself at calling her like that in serious situations. Just like how Victoria's name could change for Veronique. But he just wanted to talk to the girl, the figure who sat behind the mental wall of Elsa.

"How did it come so far? And why? I don't understand it Elsa!" Jack said concernedly, while laying a hand on her shoulder. He was shocked to hear it and he didn't want her to suffer of this. He wanted nobody to suffer of this. They broke apart and Elsa quickly wiped a tear away that ran down her cheek with her hand instead of her sleeve, since she wore a sleeveless dress. Elsa grabbed her bag and grabbed a tissue out of it, trying blindly to remove her smudged make up.

"Come here," he offered friendly before gently taking the tissue in his hands. He shoved his chair towards her, put his knee between her legs so he could come closer, and gently removed the smudged make up off her face. He thought she was more than engagingly with her blue eyes that were now damp because of the tears, but they were at least full with emotion, something she always concealed lately. With it they were more vivacious and as open as a blooming blossom bloom, something he could only describe as truly brave; being honest even when it's hard.

"It began when I was sixteen. After the accident with you I'd rehabilitated and there was a small chance that I could maybe skate again. My parents discouraged my plans when they heard it; they were just used to the rest and not having the stress of bringing me to competitions and rehearsals, keeping my real name hidden, and so on, but I wanted it so badly. So I got back to the skating rink with in my head the same dream again; becoming an international champion. I hoped to get back on track after two years not touching skates. I saw all these girls in their beautiful dresses which were made for contests as they raced over the ice, their hair flowing in the wind, their dresses shimmering because the little Swarovski diamonds on it reflected into the spotlight. I wanted it all back so badly," Elsa said softly, while closing her eyes and he could see she tried to get flashbacks back.

"I asked if I could skate again and get my schedule. The woman I'd asked it to was my trainer. She looked at me from head to toe, judging me with her critical gaze, leaving nothing of my trust that it was going to be alright, that I could skate again and just let it go," Elsa sighed while averting her gaze. She turned her head to look out of the window, at the yellow cabs and the crowd that passed by. Her eyes stared at one point, her face expressionless and cold.

"She asked how much I weighed. Of course I hadn't sported for two years so I'd gained more weight than 'appropriate' in this top sport world. She said I had to lose minimal ten kilograms. I knew my parents weren't going to accept this. I had to lose the ten kilograms so I was more streamlined as a result that boys could lift me up in the air more easily by the way. I already had the idea I was underweight but I listened to her with the silly dream stuck in my head that I was capable of getting fully back on track again,'' Elsa groaned through gritted teeth while a tear escaped the corner of her eye.

"Because I wanted to lose weight quickly so I could skate again, I thought that if I would vomit my food... It would go far quicker than sporting again, building up all the stamina I'd lost, but now I think about it I actually just had to sport again because eventually I still needed it in the end in the skating rink, the stamina I mean."

Elsa turned her head towards him and finally looked at him, her eyes showing emotion again. "I got bulimia, while the voices in my head dominated my thoughts, every day, every hour... every second," she almost whispered, her voice filled with pain and suffer. He slowly moved his hand to hers and took it in his. Hers were ice cold, but his were warm, so he warmed her up.

"My sister found it out one day when I said for the thousandth time in two years I needed to go to the bathroom after dinner. She told mum and dad everything. I wasn't allowed to touch ice skates ever again. I got kind of in a depression because I had to give up my ambition, almost what Victoria has now with her manic episodes, but my depression lasted a year and a half instead of sessions of three stupid hours or three days. Thereby, I was still mentally sick of the voices in my head and the bulimia so my parents sent me to a psychologist and after three years of battling I tried to learn to love myself, but without success in the end."

A silence.

"You know what Jack? It's not just a voice in your head, it's a disease," Elsa mumbled softly with the pain in her voice while she fumbled restlessly with his hand.

"Elsa, I don't care what you now think of me, I don't care if you may find it cheesy and cliché what I'm about to say now, but you must know that you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. When I first saw you at that staff party my eyes popped almost literally out of my head, just so you know..." Jack said comfortingly. "And that like never happens to me," he added mumbling, while stirring in his coffee.

Elsa smiled softly, while a last tear ran down her cheek.

"Well, let's get a doughnut with a ton of frosting on it," Jack smiled.

Elsa opened her mouth to protest that she didn't want it, but Jack placed his finger on her lips and cocked teasingly an eyebrow at her.

''If you think you getting curves is a bad thing then you don't know how men work.''

That evening Jack sat in the living room, watching Game of Thrones –his absolute favourite TV show- and for sixty minutes his life was made again since they were replaying season three. He lay on the couch, lounging with his elbow on it as his hands were supporting the side of his head. He was attentively watching his show when Elsa called his name from out of the bedroom.

"Yes?" he yelled back, at the same trying to watch his show. Maybe they are right; multitasking is something for women, because he had trouble with listening, yelling and watching at the same time.

_"Could you help me please?"_ he heard her yelling back.

He looked up, turning the volume down. He thought she was such a lucky bastard that he was willing to help her, 'cause _nothing_ was sacrificed for Game of Thrones. "Eh yes?" he answered ignorant, not knowing what to think, or do with the situation. He raised and walked towards the closed bedroom door. He laid his hand on the door handle to enter the bedroom but Elsa almost yelled_. "B-but wait!" _

"Elsa what's happening? I'm entering the bedroom!" he warned her while knocking on the door. She began to protest, but he interrupted her. "You want that I help you, I'm coming right ahead and now I'm not allowed to do so? Logics," he snickered slightly, while leaning against the doorpost with the side of his right shoulder as he was talking to the door.

_"No, it's not what you think. Jack, when you enter the room close your eyes,"_ she said with a warned voice.

He sighed heavily. "O god this is serious stuff," he mumbled to himself. "Can I come in?" he wanted to enter the bedroom again, but Elsa again spoke once more.

_"Jack, it's just-" _

"Elsa what's the problem?" he asked a bit irritated now, because he wanted to know what happened.

''_I'm stuck in my dress. I can't undress myself; I can't get it over my head."_ He had to lay his ear on the door because she almost whispered the words so soft that it was almost unintelligible and inaudible. She was ashamed, that was clear.

"Regret of eating that doughnut this afternoon I see,'' he joked although he knew one single doughnut couldn't cause so many, in Elsa's eyes, _damage_. ''It's okay, I come in," he again wanted to enter the room, but Elsa stopped him once again and he sighed heavily in response.

_"Jack?" _

"Yes Elsa?" he sighed with a groan mixed in it.

_"Close your eyes,"_

"Yes, I'm closing my eyes okay? What a crime if I would see you in your undergarments, we aren't married or something," he joked in a sarcastic tone. Jack closed his eyes and entered the room. "Eh Elsa, where are you?" he asked, still closing his eyes. He was totally disorientated.

"_I'm here."_

"Where is _here_?" he asked impatiently. He wanted to roll with his eyes, but they were closed so it made no sense.

"_To the left, like three centimetres,"_ he heard her saying. He took a small step to the left. "_That's right __Jackie_," she teased.

He groaned in dismay. "Don't dare me to call me _Jackie_, I'm not a girl," he warned magisterially, stretching his arms out to make sure he wouldn't bump into a wall. "Okay, so for you it's three centimetres to the left and for me it's three centimetres to the right?" he asked confusedly. He secretly wanted to open his eyes for like a millimetre, so he could see where he was, but Elsa had seen it because the second after she barked.

"_Eyes closed Jackson Overland Frost!"_ He still couldn't see Elsa; his vision was a blur because his eyes were open for nearly a millimetre.

"Okay! Okay!" and he closed his eyes again. He took a small step to the right -for Elsa to the left- and began carefully walking which meant taking mini steps.

"_Oh and beware that you almost bump into the-"_ he hissed and groaned in pain before cursing out loud when he felt how his legs bumped into something. "_Bed,"_ she ended matter-of-factly.

"Not funny, Winters," he warned her in an imitating tone, still feeling the pain. Elsa laughed and it looked like she couldn't and wouldn't stop. "Okay, where are you it's payback time," he said determinedly in a playful tone while again stretching his arms out.

"_Ten centimetres to the left."_ He turned his body to the right. "You're a fast learner," she noticed with a snort.

"You can't trick me, babe," he smirked. He walked forward. His hands bumped into something. It was warm and soft. "Are you this?" he asked while blindly touching it, feeling the 'object'.

"_Yes, that's me." _

He trailed with his hands up, slowly and seductively while his hands snaked over her body, feeling her bare skin. She shivered for a second. That typical shiver when someone touches you. "Everything alright?" he asked snickering, while he sat on his knees.

"_Yeah, eh It's pretty cold with almost no clothes_," she said quickly, but she stuttered and trailed a bit off with her voice as it died away. He trailed his hand further up until he felt he touched a kind of clothing. It felt different than other clothes. He tried to feel what it could be and where he was with his hands upon her body. It was definitely other fabric than just normal clothes. He tried to feel what was 'in' it and he discovered he could slightly squeeze it.

"_Eh Jack, you are cupping with your hands my breasts,"_ she said matter-of-factly. Jack felt he blushed -something he never did-. He removed his hand in millisecond, trailed further up with it and raised. He felt how his fingertips brushed over her pretty soft lips. He trailed a little bit further up. He felt something that was quite pointy but somehow soft. "Wait, is this your-"

"_Nose? Yes,"_ he heard her laughing.

Jack laughed. "Elsa how am I supposed to help you? All I'm doing is touching you on the most awkward places." he almost sulked.

Elsa laughed, but then got serious. "_Get me out of this bloody dress,_" she wailed softly.

"How am I supposed to do that if I'm not allowed to open my eyes?" he shot resolutely back.

"_Just keep on trying_,'' she demanded.

"Elsa, this is going to take a lot of time and only more awkward things will happen if I can't see what I'm doing." It was silent for a second and he had no idea what she was going to say. "Elsa, it's okay,'' he assured her in a caring tone, softly smiling.

"_Okay, open your eyes."_ His eyes fluttered open and he stared at her until Elsa looked at him with a vague expression so he got back to present. "I uh, try to find a solution," he mumbled stammering a bit, while scratching the back of his head. He stood behind her and tried to get the dress over her head. "How did you manage to get _in_ this dress?" he asked mumbling, while still trying to get her out of it.

"I don't-" Jack finally got the dress over her head with a last pull as he groaned, ''know," she ended now a bit snickering when she finally got out of it.

Jack smiled tempting at her. "Fixed it," he smirked, while holding the dress in his hands. Elsa smiled back at him, her eyes like a starry sky. "Thank you," she smiled softly but genuine in a tone filled with gratitude. "You're welcome," he smiled with mirth and care, hoping she didn't feel the awkwardness that hung in the air between the two as well. There fell an obnoxious silence. Jack stared for his feeling almost emaciated at her, wanting to admire her in every way. She now only wore her undergarments. He looked at her from head to toe. In his opinion she looked really good.

A blush spread across her cheeks and eyes were casted down in insecurity before one of her hands moved sideways to place it around her wrist. He realized he'd been staring impassively but most of all impudently at her the whole time. He had the idea she was feeling really uncomfortable now. He got back to present and reminded himself why he'd opened his eyes. "I-I'll go back to the eh… living room. I guess," he mumbled a bit off almost paralyzed by her beauty, while pointing to the door on an awkward way and he felt like an idiot.

Elsa nodded softly, while she walked towards the closet to probably change herself in her sleepwear.

As he made his way back, he could think of only one thing and that was that Elsa was really beautiful. She was genuine and herself in the best way, but most of all; pure.

He suddenly felt a feeling he'd tried to conceal the whole time for her since there they were: _butterflies_. Again after all these years he still felt it. Then he realised he was feeling more for her than he should, plus Aphrodite had finally come. Now he only had to wait till Elsa was getting a visit of her as well.

Damn it.


	16. Chapter XV Queen Bee on the throne

**CHAPTER XV PART I: Queen Bee on her throne of shards**

**ELSA**

The next morning she had breakfast alone because Jack was still asleep. She smiled at the memory with him. He really cared about her and secretly she loved it how he comforted her past night; his arms had been wrapped around her and he told her it was going to be alright.

She'd always liked it to see him asleep with his mouth half open, his bed head hair even more messy than it already was as he snored lightly. On moments like that she had restrain herself from letting a rambunctious giggle escape her lips before taking a photo of the guy to haunt him with for life. She had gotten a huge weakness for him and the silliest movements he made could make her just swallow her fangirl scream.

Of course it was such a torture to live with him in one apartment for eight months.

She was eating some skyr -Icelandic yoghurt that had no fat and was super healthy- while reading the newspaper. She raised an eyebrow when she read the front page with the text '_P. Black still hasn't been found_.' She 'zoomed in' with her gaze and in one second she was stuck to the article. She knew the police was looking for him, as well as the International Security Agency, the agency she and Jack worked for. She was convinced this man was nothing more but a danger to society and she doubted it if Michael and Katherine knew their foster daughter had a relation with the son of this criminal. She was convinced Oliver gave himself a different surname with Victoria and Michael and Katherine in his presence.

She thought about Victoria, the girl with the red hair and the green eyes. The image of the cuts she'd found on both of Victoria's arms scared her and peculiarly, she dreamed three times about the girl this past night. She had two dreams how it was and one how it could be.

In dream one she'd walked over a square that looked like a schoolyard. It had been winter; the ground covered in snow, the coldness hitting her body. She was waiting for Victoria she just knew it somehow, but she didn't come the whole time. Then, she saw a group of girls running towards a girl with red hair as they'd happily yelled 'VICTORIA!' before they had all thrown her on the ground to hug her, Victoria laughing. She wondered if it had been her friends. But then the girl had looked up to look in her eyes and Elsa had then realised it wasn't Victoria! It was a girl called Victoria, but it wasn't Victoria, the girl she knows. Out of nowhere the apparent girl began to sing, and she sang so beautiful, lucid, captivating that Elsa's sleeping body got shivers and goose bumps as it dreamed about the redhead. The group of girls joined her and as soon as they all sang, sometimes canon, it began to snow. It had been playful and delicate snowflakes that had fallen out of the heavens. Elsa had joined them, feeling happy and carefree. Then, she'd hit a high note, the last one of the song. It was hard to keep it pure, but she'd managed to keep her voice steady and finished it well before everyone clapped and she felt happy. Then Victoria had walked out of the building, but she heard how a girl called her Veronique. The weather made place for a blizzard and it began to snow heavier. Her auburn hair reached her elbows since she'd pulled it loose and she listened to music as she had her earplugs in. This 'Veronique' noticed her once, gave her one unwritten glance, before looking forward, not giving Elsa attention anymore to then walk away. Elsa had hoped so desperately she would look once more up, but in vain.

The second dream that night was how it could be. Victoria had been super nice to her! They had sat in an attic of an unknown house that stood in a forest. Victoria was calling herself Veronique. They had been laughing, talking and giggling and she was very open. 'Veronique' asked things back this time, showed interest, asked how she felt, how she was doing as she sometimes joked. Elsa had grabbed a ball and they began playing football with no apparent reason. But then, the ball had been kicked out of the window by Elsa, breaking the glass of it and the shards had been spread out over on the ground. Then she could vaguely remember how she and her then sat down, still in the attic, and Veronique told her she didn't care about what her parents thought of her. She had the idea they were whining lately, interfering themselves with everything but their business. As she was talking, Elsa had been braiding her long red hair in the meantime. Elsa said age wasn't an and shouldn't be an obstacle for a friendship and she remembered 'Veronique' clearly answering 'Indeed!' as she giggled again. In this dream, she was open and nice. It was like they were friends.

Then, Victoria or well she was called Veronique in her dream, jumped up and she could only remember how they ran the next second through the woods, shoving as they ran branches away out of their sight and then, she walked past a house that also stood in the same forest. Elsa had walked past a window to look in a kitchen of someone. It was a dark house from the inside that had dim light. Somehow, the name Simone jumped up in her head. The girl was having dinner with her family and she had a dog, but she didn't now how she knew that. Strange thing was that Veronique and Simone didn't even notice each other, they didn't see each other. It was like they were in a fight or that their friendship wasn't at its best now.

Then she'd gotten a third dream but that one had been so vague. She had walked in the high school of Victoria, once again she was called Veronique, and here, her locker was next or under Veronique's. She remembered how Vero held a book in her hands. It was physics. Maybe she studied it, or maybe that was her major class? She was reading it as Simone walked past her, but in this dream they were best friends again. She walked tentative towards her locker, approaching Veronique. Even when it was super crowded by students talking and laughing in her dream, the teen had heard her footsteps as she looked up, her gaze cold. She'd put her book in her bag and walked away, dodging her. The rest had been a blur.

She still tried to get an image of the insecure and vulnerable Victoria in mind since it was the first time she'd seen how her green eyes had become softer. Her almost impervious concrete mental wall had almost faded back then, but every time she tried to read the body language of the teenager, Victoria always averted her head and within a swift second she had built that well-known mental wall around herself again, while shooting a menacing death glare as a warning to leave her alone.

She needed to know more about Victoria, since she was convinced there was so much more behind her; she didn't speak a lot but when she did it was always wise, always with this certain maturity in it. She was closed, locked with a clasp, but Elsa was determined to unclasp her, find out who she was, what her true nature was, if she could be nice deep down and genuine, a thing she was certain of as maybe one of the less people, since people like Jack and Michael thought she was unruly, cunning and just underhand. And yes, she never asked how someone's day was, she never showed interest in someone's being, and it was like that she only saw herself in her reflection but Elsa knew that was because she felt alone. How she knew it, was a thing she could only guess but those green eyes hid a certain loneliness and neglect. But how more Victoria was determined to shut her out, how more determined Elsa was to find out what she was hiding.

She could already hear Jack saying; 'just let go of the child. She has never asked for this wise talk. Before you know it you say to her she looks like a character of a novel you write, what a joke.'

Indeed, you could write whole books of this character, this person, this Victoria. She was different than all other people. If she just opened herself up to her! But now the only question lasted: 'how to get to know her without that I'm constantly bothering her or that she thinks I'm annoying,'

Her mind was a desert of lacuna when it came to that question.

The door of their bedroom opened and she snapped out of her thoughts.

"Hey," he greeted her with a low raspy voice as he walked into the kitchen. He has always had it in the morning. Jack was wearing a shirt, something he had finally learned to do, although she had to admit that he was tempting as well when he walked around the house without one. She stared at his abs that were now hidden by his shirt, but she decided to admire them in her thoughts. Before she knew it she dreamed away in her own fantasies. Jack snapped three times in front of her sight. She jumped up by the sudden disturbance of her perfect fantasy.

"It's like you are staring through instead of at me," Jack noticed snickering. He walked towards the dining table and plopped down in his chair across of her. He grabbed toast and Nutella. He smeared a mountain of the chocolate spread on it like he was a six-year-old. He was right, she was indeed not staring at him, she was staring _through_ him. Well through his shirt, but still.

She grabbed the hagelslag and poured it on her French toast. She watched as Jack looked up and cocked an eyebrow at the weird little chocolate things Elsa had poured on her toast.

"What on earth is _that_?" Jack asked confusedly as he pointed at the hagelslag like it was an insect. He stared incisively at it, like it was a time bomb ready to explode with a penetratingly suspicious gaze. "Is it…_chocolate_?" he asked in astonishment in a tone of 'can I eat it?'. His eyes widened in curiosity. It was so adorable how he looked, she had to almost whisper to herself to cool down before the butterflies in her tummy would end up flattering in a playful and frisky vortex that was now slowly becoming a uncontrollablehurricane she called _Damn Love._

'Dear gods and goddesses on the Olympus, keep Aphrodite out of my way, please!' was all she could think.

Damned love belt.

"Yeah. It's like little pieces and bits of chocolate for your toast. In the Netherlands, it's one of the most popular sieges. Especially with kids, like you," she winked while playfully rolling her eyes when she saw much Nutella Jack had smeared on his toast.

Jack laughed and winked at her while he smiled brightly, lifting the corners of his mouth to reveal his white teeth like freshly fallen snow. She felt better when he smiled and winked at her. It gave her a light feeling in her stomach and she had to admit it, even when she didn't want butterflies, she couldn't stop them. He took a bite out of his toast, but because there was so much Nutella on it, it was spread everywhere on his face, so before she could conceal herself, she giggled like a schoolgirl.

But then, she became serious again and frowned as she swallowed her toast. "Jack, I was thinking…I am, no we are going to investigate Victoria's room. I'm sure she has more to hide," Elsa spoke determinedly as she poured tea into her mug. She skipped Jack's one because he hated tea. He nodded thankfully as they giggled with the thought of what Elsa had done to him the last time they went to Michael and Katherine.

"Elsa, I don't think we'll find much, although I also don't trust her. It's hard to believe she has a lot to do with this all, but okay I'll go with you," he sighed in reluctance while grabbing the hagelslag and he tried some on his toast. He took a bite out of his toast with a shrug. Surprised he looked up, swallowed it and smiled brightly with a face that said 'damn this is good!' "I swear by the Styx, Elsa this is even better than Nutella.''

She giggled before she spoke determinedly ''Come, let's go to Michael and Katherine after we've finished breakfast."

"Yes... Yes, let's do that."

They had arrived at Michael and Katherine's apartment and the two were now standing in the corridor, ready to knock on the front door. "Have you called Michael to tell them we would come?" Jack whispered in a rapid tone before knocking.

They both looked up when they heard voices yelling at each other and both parties were silent to hear what was going on.

"_Why are you blaming me for something I can't do anything about, Michael?!_" they heard Katherine yelling at her husband.

"_We've been trying for eight fucking years to have a family and it never happens! You should know how I feel! I have the idea that I can't show all the love I feel for you, I have the idea I fail, Katherine!_"

"_I can call the doctor so they can referral me to the hospital for a research at the gynaecologist,_" Katherine suggested in apparent desperation.

"_Yes...let's do that,_" Michael sighed as well.

Elsa and Jack looked up, turned their heads in each other's direction and they both raised an eyebrow at each other in question.

Elsa opened her mouth to answer Jack's question. "No, I haven't called them; before these people have time for you we're four months further if you see their social life that's as busy as a beehive," she groaned before planting a graceful smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around his waist in case Michael or Katherine would suddenly open the door and of course their marriage and body language always had to be _on fleek_.

Michael opened the door this time. His hair was messy and his blue eyes were matt. He frowned, but then quickly put a smile on his face to hide his fatigue. "Oh Elsa, Jack, come in," Michael spoke a bit off guard with furrowed eyebrows. Jack wrapped his arm around her waist and they all walked into the corridor that led to the living room.

Katherine was sitting at the dining table, her hands wrapped around a mug of tea. She stared down at the hot beverage underneath her, not moving. She looked tired. Quickly she wiped a tear away, her brown hair hanging apathetically past her face as it cascaded down in long curls and her blue eyes were as matt as her husband's. Elsa was surprised the couple was at home, because normally they were always busy with running their Federal Reserve Bank at Wall Street.

Elsa, as a HSP, felt that it was better to not ask what was going on, so she asked immediately for what she and Jack were here. "First of all sorry for visiting you at this unfortunate moment without announcing our visit, but are my husband and I allowed to investigate the apartment?" She gave a glance at the couple, switching from time to time from person to person.

Michael enabled the coffee machine to keep his amount of caffeine on the mark, as the smell of espresso filled everyone's nostrils. "Yes, of course," he sighed softly as he shrugged in a lackadaisical way. Elsa saw that both Michael and Katherine were feeling quite desperate and were as well on the edge of a breakdown, thereby she could see both almost hadn't slept last night. An aura of negativity, grief and disappointment hung in the air as it shrouded the two.

"Victoria is at school I assume since it's obtrusively silent here," Jack spoke almost snarky, while leaning with his hands on the dining table as he slightly hovered over it, and he cocked simultaneously an eyebrow at Michael and Katherine in his amusement. Elsa slightly rolled her eyes at his comment.

Elsa quickly patted Olaf on his head, the little poodle licking in gratitude her hands as response.

"Indeed, but she can arrive every moment," Katherine spoke with a sigh, and somehow Elsa saw it was clear she wasn't quivering to welcome her daughter who was 24/7 an emotional rollercoaster which got up and down in the moments you would expect it less. Elsa was convinced Victoria was not the child for these people; they were always away to their work, forgot her and just the whole 'family picture' was not there.

Elsa nodded and pulled Jack with her who almost stumbled in momentum when she grabbed him out of nowhere by his upper arm. They tried to find Victoria's room in the, for New York, pretty big Upper East Side apartment. She walked into a corridor that was next to the kitchen. It had three doors. She opened the left one and stepped inside. There was a huge king size bed. The bed was perfectly made and decorative cushions were laying on it. The room was painted in the colour mix sand like colours and black. They could see this was probably the bedroom of Michael and Katherine. Elsa blushed as she pulled Jack with her.

"Let's try right then?" Jack asked. Elsa nodded and opened the right door. They stepped inside and she immediately saw this was Victoria's room; the walls were painted pastel green with pink, one side having a flower wallpaper. The window of her dormer window was almost closed so a split of dim sunlight fell into the room. The room wasn't dark; little lanterns that were coloured in all the colours of the rainbow lighted it. The string with the lanterns hung diagonally through the room and it actually looked pretty cosy. She had a huge bed with a big closet next to it and a desk to do her homework at. —if she even did that-

"Let's get started," Elsa sighed and she walked consecutively towards the desk to pull all the drawers open in her rage of finding something, as Jack decided to search under her bed. She quickly and almost roughly pushed everything aside. Notebooks, pens and photos of Oliver and her were so far the only things she could see. Elsa rolled her eyes when she saw them.

She grabbed a notebook. Maybe she used it as a diary? She looked up when she realised that she wrote in this thing her _actual_ _feelings_ down, a thing she didn't seem to know either have when you saw her outside. But then Eloise realised she had no time to read it now, so she again threw it back in the drawer.

"Eh Elsa?" Jack asked tentatively. Elsa laughed when she saw how Jack lay on the ground with his torso under Victoria's bed. He was probably stuck and it looked cute in her opinion.

"I'll help," she sighed laughing, before throwing herself on the ground. Hands were wrapped around his ribcage to pull him from under the bed as hitched groans escaped her lips.

"Thanks," he snickered when she'd helped him. They raised and leaned against her bed before Jack consecutively ran through his hair. "Oh, this is what I've found," he mumbled and his hand glided under the bed to reveal a cardboard box. Elsa raised an eyebrow. It must be very old; it was covered in dust and it just had this musty smell. Jack handed it over to her and she carefully opened it. There were a few objects in it.

There was photo frame with a photo in it, her birth announcement, which was a pastel pink card, and Elsa found four other photos of Victoria through the years from back when she was six till now. She picked the photo frame with a photo in it up, as she blew the dust off it. She moved her finger over the photo frame to remove the last dust particles. A hitched groan in pain escaped her lips when she found out it was broken; a shard had cut into her skin.

Victoria must've broken it. She looked up when she remembered her dream of this past night; 'the ball was kicked out of the window by Elsa, breaking the glass of it and the shards lay on the ground'. Elsa was sure she was cutting herself with a glass shard or at least a mirror shard and it wouldn't surprise her if she had the causing object that gave her the kick of pain in her hands right now. She blew the dust further off the glass to look at the photo, while Jack laid his head on her shoulder. His messy hair touched the side of her head and she smiled when it tickled.

She stared at the photo. There was a four-year-old Victoria with her biological mother sitting on the beach. They both smiled, while her mother held her close on her lap, kissing the four-year-old as she nuzzled in her daughter's hair. Victoria had the stars in her eyes, as her beautiful red hair fell over her shoulder. She smiled brightly as the girl wore a bikini, which was red with white stripes. She was such a different child back then. There was nothing left of the sweet and genuine smile nowadays. No, the real world broke it, ripped it apart to leave her with nothing more but a concrete mental wall and corners of narrow lips that never lifted. Her mother had red hair as well and Victoria had the slight waves in her hair of her mother. Her mother had blue eyes, but Elsa wondered from whom Victoria got her emerald green eyes.

"Look at her. She was so... different," Elsa whispered aghast, while she held the picture closer, hoping to see more of this adorable four-year-old. There was a date under it; _10-7-2004_. Someone had written a description down with a quick sloppy handwriting. _Aurelie and Victoria, Santa Monica beach_. Aurelie must be Victoria's mother. Aurelie, was it a French name? was the thing she asked herself.

"Jack, when did that shooting happen that has now become a cold case with Aurelie Leroux in 2004?" Elsa asked nonchalantly, while she never averted her gaze from the mysterious photo.

"Sixteenth of July, 2004 why?" he mumbled absently while he apparently also stared at little Victoria in the photo. He almost seemed to let escape an 'aw' his lips when he saw her, but he held it back to Elsa's amusement.

"This picture has been made six days before that shooting," Elsa mumbled determinedly.

"So? Does Victoria have something to do with that shit? Is this Aurelie _the Aurelie Leroux_, our previously national ballet talent? No, right?! Okay, so put it back in the box please before _Miss Diva_ comes back and barbecues us. _Thank you_," Jack spoke snarky.

"Yeah... Indeed. But I was just looking at the date and yeah...I don't know," she mumbled quickly. She gave a last glance at the photo before putting it back in the box. She again shoved it under the bed and now walked towards Victoria's closet. She opened it and there was a perfectly ordered closet to be seen; tops with tops, shirts with shirts and so on, but there was a part of the closet that was messy; all her shoes were stacked up upon each other and it was like a bomb had exploded in the under part of it.

Elsa knelt and without thinking she grabbed them all out of the closet, throwing them with thuds on the parquet floor, as her instinct spoke somehow. She raised an eyebrow when she found pairs of ballet pointe. The pastel pink colour, the long pastel pink strings to be diagonal crossed over around your legs,… it made her feel sad and happy at the same time since this sport together with ice-skating had made sure she could never skate ever again.

"Jack, if you can tell me why Victoria has ballet pointe in her closet, you manage to amuse me," she mumbled suspiciously while holding them in her hands, looking at the pink shoes. Memories flooded her thoughts. Before she'd practiced ice figuring skating she had to follow ballet lessons, something she loved and secretly she wouldn't have mind if she had to stop with ice-skating to continue in ballet, but her parents don't want her to do ice-skating and ballet ever again. She blinked the tears quickly away when she remembered herself that because of this genre in sports, she had to give up her ambition in life.

Jack shrugged obliviously, before walking towards her. With no warning he searched further in her closet to find in seconds in the back of it photos and little lucky charms. He held the colourful little cuddle animals in his hand, as well as the photos before he turned his head in her direction to cock an eyebrow at her.

This time there wasn't a cute four-year-old child to be seen in the photo, no now there was a cold woman to be seen, showing no emotion while she was dancing on her ballet pointe, performing an arabesque. She wore a pink tutu, her red hair into a ballerina bun, her eyes lifeless, her face pale and expressionless. It was clear the love was out of her eyes, her smile, out of everything.

"Since when can Victoria dance on pointe? You have to practice for years to be able to do that!" Elsa groaned in her incomprehension. She didn't understand it. Victoria can dance on pointe? And this photo had been taken probably only a few months ago. She turned the photo around, yes; _13-7-15, the New Amsterdam Theatre, Broadway. _

She looked at Victoria, her movements perfect as well as her technique and she was so to see utterly concentrated. She moved on to the other photo where Victoria was performing a pirouette on stage, totally in her trance and concentration, as the spotlight shone down at her. It fit her, the sport, her everything even when she seemed to be so ruthless and relentless.

"Are you trying to say Victoria is also following ballet lessons? That's insane because Michael and Katherine have never spoken a word about it, as well Victoria. She follows musical lessons for already five years," Jack groaned in incomprehension, while he handed the photo over to her. He ran through his hair and turned his head towards Elsa, looking incisively at her.

"It wouldn't surprise me if she's lying about this as well, or well hiding it," Elsa sighed wistfully while lying the photos back into the back of closet as well the pointe pairs. She sighed and closed the door of the closet before she consecutively leaned with her back against it to lower to the ground. "Do you know where Michael and Katherine were talking about? It was very confusing," Elsa sighed while running a hand through her hair as the back of her head rested against the closet. Jack moved himself next to her and leaned with his back against the closet as well.

"They were talking about a gynaecologist. That's serious stuff in a relationship of a married couple who don't have children of their own, Elsa," Jack sighed seriously, while moving his head towards her. They raised and Jack helped her up like a true gentleman. Elsa blushed and smiled in gratitude as she flattered stroked a strand of her long hair behind her ear.

She opened her mouth to answer him, but the door of the room was jerked so hard open that it collapsed against the opposite wall. Elsa sighed wistfully when Victoria stood in the doorway. She recoiled backwards in shock when she saw the two 'private detectives of her parents' standing in her room. She turned pale as snow and her eyes widened as she placed her hand on her chest in shock since she hadn't expected this scene in front of her.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING IN MY ROOM?!" she yelled in utter shock before she screamed. Elsa was sure she hadn't taken her medication for today to control her manic episodes. Elsa moved her head to Jack, and to her amusement, Jack put matter-of-factly his fingers in his ears, as he looked at Victoria with a 'not-amused' face. He rolled unimpressed with his eyes.

Victoria walked into her room in a fast pace, her green eyes spitting fire. She grabbed the two by their arms and wanted to pull them to the exit of her room. Elsa and Jack raised both an eyebrow at each other. "I. Fucking. Hate. You. Two." Victoria hissed in her ferociousness, while they almost reached the door of her room. "You two are interfering yourselves with everything but your business and I am so FUCKING DONE with it," she cursed, still leading them to her door, while her quite long nails were digging in Elsa's wrists and her blood circulation temporarily stopped to her hand, but apparently Victoria was busy with everything except for that.

Elsa as well Victoria were dumbfounded when Jack turned Victoria's arm in a swift second to her back so she hissed in pain, while she was wailing for freedom, trying to release herself out of his grip. He grabbed her by her shoulders and pinned her against her door and he raised his knee to put it on her upper leg, so she couldn't go anywhere.

Victoria began yelling, trying everything to escape Jack, trying to kick, crotch him, everything at once while groaning and hissing at him, everything was thrown into battle, but Jack had no effort at holding her under his power as he smiled deviously at her. "You don't know for how long I've wanted to do this," he smirked deviously while chuckling with mock.

"Get immediately right the fuck off me dude or you have no balls left when I'm done with you!" Victoria menaced dauntless with a hiss, still struggling against his tight grip. She sometimes managed to move three centimetres forward, but Jack would every time push her roughly back, so the back of her head would collapse into the wall but she kept on fighting against him.

Jack whistled. "_Personality_, I like that. Show me what you got," he challenged her, amusedly raising an eyebrow at her before wiggling them.

Victoria narrowed her eyes till they were slits before trying to move one of her legs between his to kick him, but Jack was prepared for this move; he put her left leg against her right one; clutching them together, while he pinned her wrists together above her head with one hand and with the other he covered her mouth to prevent her from yelling or screaming. Victoria tried to move, but Jack prevented so.

He bended forward and spoke sarcastically in a snarky tone, looking deep in her green eyes. "Yeah, you're right; my balls are totally crushed," before winking.

Victoria narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything –not that she could with Jack's hand covering her mouth-. Jack let go of her. Victoria moved her hand to her wrist to rub it because Jack had held it very tightly as she shot a death glare at him but it left Jack cold.

"If Michael and Katherine hear about this, I swear you are going to have some serious problems," Victoria menaced. A strand of red hair fell in front of her face, but she immediately stroked it behind her ear.

"And you too if we tell your daddy and mummy-"

"They're not my parents." Victoria interrupted Jack before lifting her chin.

"The secrets you're hiding from them," Jack ended mischievously, while moving himself closer to her face. Elsa admired the fact he did that, something she wouldn't even dare to since Victoria could make you feel like you were an insect that had to be nothing more but crushed_. _

"Listen, I am not a dad either a parent, but if I was your father you would be under house arrest till your death_,_" Jack hissed. Elsa snickered at the thought of Jack as a father; Jack's lack of parenting made this whole situation even better.

"Secrets like?" Victoria asked cheekily, now sassily blowing once again the same strand of hair out of her face. Elsa took a step forward to join the conversation. She smelled the smoke scent that hung around Victoria.

"Like that you steal the passwords of your foster dad which give access to his bank account, that you cut yourself and probably try to hide you are not following musical lessons but ballet," Elsa rattled as she smiled deviously and she finally dared to take a step forward to the teen.

Victoria seemed shocked but she narrowed her peridot coloured eyes to cover her astonishment up. She wanted to turn around to walk away, but Jack grabbed her by her arm, grabbed the swivel chair at her desk, rolled it towards him and Victoria, laid his hands on her shoulders and pushed her roughly down. "Now you are going to listen to me, _sweetie_. I am so done with this behaviour of you. You are going to sit down and listen to us for fuck's sake. And what your _mummy and daddy_ think of it, well I don't fucking care. You should be happy for God's sake that we still haven't told them all what we've discovered. Actually, we're on your side and you still don't see it?" Jack crossed his arms before walking little circles around Victoria who sat on the chair, following him with her narrowed green eyes.

Jack was standing behind Victoria's chair and her. He bent forward to whisper in a low tone in her ear so she flinched by the sudden voice in her ear. "Now tell me, are you following ballet lessons without Michael and Katherine knowing?"

Victoria's eyes shut in apprehension, while Elsa saw how she trembled out of pure agony. Wow, Jack was really good at this, examining people and it made him even more attractive in her eyes now he wore a dominant shimmer. "Y-yes," she whispered scared, now opening her eyes again to reveal a colour green, brighter than spring and she then cast them down in shame, while folding her hands on her lap as she fumbled with her white painted nails.

"Why are you hiding it?" Elsa asked suspiciously, before walking towards her as she knelt to come on eye height with her, trying to not be dominant in her body language, since Jack and her had been constantly glaring down at her. A girl like Victoria would never open herself up if she was being snapped, glared down at and Elsa knew this situation made her lie to be redeemed of this plight where she wasn't waiting for.

"Michael and Katherine don't want to hear a single thing about ballet. They hate it and want me to follow musical lessons. But I was smart; I said they had to let me go to Alvin Ailey Dance Academy, where you could can get musical as well as ballet lessons. I found a way so they would never notice that I am following musical and ballet lessons. I just can't and don't want to give up my ambition. That place is also where I got to know my boyfriend," She spoke softly with brevity, her voice filled with proud and valour although she looked completely burnt out and submissive on the outside.

Victoria would fight till the end and Elsa knew that that character trait was the only reason why she hadn't made an end to her life yet, since she knew unfortunately more of the real mature world than she should know.

"How did you guys really meet?" Jack mumbled, now also kneeling to come to eye-height with her. Elsa and Jack now both knelt next her chair, Jack left, Elsa right, while Jack laid a hand on her shoulder. He saw how Victoria glared in the corner of her eye at her shoulder where the hand of Jack was laying on, which she saw as a dangerous insect.

She sighed but then the girl began to tell her story

**END PART I**

**CHAPTER XV PART II: Queen Bee on her throne of shards**

**FLASHBACK**

**VICTORIA**

**Song; 'Main Titles' by Danny Elfman, from the soundtrack Black Beauty**

The teen was standing at the bar, left hand rested on the round shaped wooden rail. She wore a black leotard to emphasise her svelte body with her slender curves. Her pastel pink pointes were situated around her feet, as one foot was on pointe, while the other was steadily standing on the ground. Her hair was up into a bun, her chin lifted gracefully and her emerald green eyes were filled with concentration and satisfaction. It was her first ballet lesson at this dance school and she wanted to make a good impression on the teacher.

_(0:20)_

She was standing in a row with six other girls who were in her ballet class as well, also standing at the bar. They were accepted just like her after a strict audition for this mental and physically heavy lead-up. The ballerinas walked away from the bar to perform a high arabesque by stretching their bodies, backs, extending in a gracious move one arm above their heads, slowly moving their right foot backwards, so their backs arched hollow, as they found their centre of gravity while they still stared forward with a cold and serious expression on their faces. She could hear the soft classic music that played in the background, her mind and thought filling tranquillity as they moved under the commands of their teacher.

_(0:45)_

Most of the girls had the plans of becoming a professional ballet dancer, but Victoria didn't know what she wanted. Yes, she wanted to become professional, but she had the idea she was steering her life with no destination. She glanced quickly at the other girls who were all in perfect position. She looked at her best friend Faye, a fifteen-year-old frisky girl who had long blonde hair that reached past her elbows as her blue eyes with veins of green in it shimmered in concentration. She was a girl that always listened to her mother, always did what she was asked to and the blonde was kind of a wallflower in the presence of other peers,but if you were alone with her she was cute and a just a happy girl with no worries at all in her uptown world with her uptown presents and uptown boyfriends; her parents were damn rich.

_(1:10)_

Faye was a girl who had a whole wardrobe filled with cute dinky dresses and the girl had a white king size Poodle called Velvet. Believe it or not, the Poodle had earned her name when Faye wanted to try on her as a puppy if pastel pink dip dye also worked on dogs, so the long jewel-like ears of poor Velvet, tip of her tail and feet were dip-dyed. Her mum was furious, but now they immediately had a new name for their dog.

_(1:30)_

Faye smiled softly at her as Victoria giggled softly back, but their moment was disturbed when their teacher, a woman named Amélie, walked past all the students, as well them, judging them and her with her piercing, serious but most of all scrutiny like look. She had honey blonde hair that was always _on fleek_ and brown eyes.

_(1:40)_

She was six months pregnant of her husband Sebastian Smythe, but Victoria already had compassion for her future child since this woman was ruthless and strict. She could know it because when she went to Faye's parental -perfectly cleaned- apartment she saw that Amélie was a strict mum. She almost got a heart attack at the beginning of the lesson when she'd discovered the mum of her best friend was her ballet teacher but Amélie was sober as always and acted like she didn't know her.

_(2:00)_

"Chin up, Faye. Thereby I don't see something funny, so remove that grin off your face," her teacher said strictly while lifting the chin of her daughter, now rolling her eyes at her 'petite'.

"Victoria, look forward, or have you forgotten how to do an arabesque?" Amélie snapped. She was a Française so spoke French fluently of course. She'd moved eighteen years ago to New York to give dance lessons. She had her origins in France so it was no miracle she was able to pronounce everything perfectly.

_(2:10)_

"No, Mrs. Smythe," Victoria groaned a bit, while arching her back even more to create a hollow form in it, hoping she wouldn't get comments on her attitude either arabesque.

"Good," her teacher said strictly. She turned herself to the clock that hung on the wall, before she consecutively clapped two times her hands as she spoke. "Girls, the lesson is over I'll see you tomorrow," Amélie said business-like, while crossing her arms and lifting her chin.

_(end)_

"Yes, Mrs. Smythe," the girls, as well Victoria, said in a bittersweet tone as some girls rolled with their eyes. They walked through the dark violet coloured doors and entered the changing rooms.

She raised an eyebrow when she saw a bunch of boys from fourteen to eighteen sitting on stools with clothes hooks above them. They all looked up when the ballet girls with their svelte and delicate postures entered the room, the teens coming back from their classes. Some girls smiled and said 'hi' to the boys, but Victoria didn't know any of them so she just ignored the love struck faces of the unknown boys when the redhead with narrowed eyes walked past them, not touched either flurried by their desperate calls for attention and a flirt back.

She now saw that there were some more girls. They talked to the boys since it looked like they had classes with them. ''Simone, why don't you go freestyling with me in Central Park on Saturday,'' a girl spoke. The probably sixteen-year-old had long natural blonde hair whose ends were gradually dip-dyed it into neon pink. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and her bangs were so long that she stroked the long lock behind her ear. She wore a crop top and Victoria raised an eyebrow when she saw how the blonde had a navel piercing with a diamond on it.

She looked up and saw a girl where that blonde girl talked to; Simone was a svelte brunette, whose hair reached past her shoulders. The girl had deep blue eyes that looked friendly and open as she wore an eyeliner wing and mascara. Her jawline was quite broad, but it soothed her face. '_'Nah, I can't. Oliver will take me Marquee this Saturday,'' _Simone spoke to the blonde before gesturing with her eyes at a boy, apparently called 'Oliver'. She felt herself blush when her gaze was pulled him.

Black messy hair that almost hung in front of his face had the colour of the Nyx, but under his messy hair were piercing amber yellow like eyes. His pale complexion dominated his overall looks and it looked like he couldn't avert his gaze from her, as well she. The about sixteen, maybe seventeen-year-old wasn't muscular built, but the dance style he trained had given him form. He winked seductively at her before not giving her attention anymore by turning his back to the redhead. She asked herself how this boy had managed it to make her blush; she never blushed.

She turned herself around as she jerked her long sleeved waistcoat off, quickly continuing to change herself so no one would see her cuts as the voices behind her back continued. '_'Marquee? But you need to be eighteen for that club!''_

''_He has connections; the DJ who works there on Saturdays is the brother of some friend of him so he will make sure there will be no problem when we want to enter the club.'' _

''_We? Oh you're a couple I see!''_ she heard the blonde saying in a singing way.

''_No Izzy, we're married,''_ she heard Simone sighing sarcastically and Izzy giggled, who was tying her shoelaces. '_'No, we're just taking things slow I guess. Now, come,''_ she heard footsteps and the door closed of the changing room that led to the dance hall. In seconds she heard Iggy Azalea's song 'work' pounding in the background, the girls already warming-up for their lesson.

She kept on staring at the enigmatic boy like Aphrodite possessed her. He was the first thing in New York that was at least in some way attractive. She wondered what dance style was he training. She looked at his loose sweatpants and shirt, but still didn't know. She walked towards Faye who was just unpinning her bun so her long blonde hair fell down. "What kind of dance lesson is on the schedule after us?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible, almost whispering, while she shoved the black spaghetti strap of her leotard off her shoulder to change herself and after that she removed her leg warmers as she sat down on the stool with the clothes hooks above it.

She felt a bit uncomfortable with all these boys while changing but she tried to put herself over it. She quickly pulled her dress over her head, to be in her bra. She clutched the fabric against her chest to cover herself up. The boys had speakers with them so in seconds 'Hey Mama' from Nicki Manaj blasted through the changing room, as some guys drummed along with the music, laughing and having fun.

She just _felt_ this Oliver's gaze burning in her back.

"Hip-hop," the black-haired boy answered over his shoulder now he'd turned his back to her before Faye could do it, searching for something in his bag, apparently Axe deodorant where every girl fainted of because the combination of a penetrating scent where you need to sneeze of and the typical man smell made every girl head-over-heels. When he turned around it seemed like his yellowish eyes looked through her and not at her. He moved his head to the side to jerk his side swept bangs out of his sight.

Again that intense eye contact.

Heartbeats increased and cheeks reddened when she felt how his eyes glided over her body that was now half exposed. Victoria turned herself to him, still clutching the dress against her chest as she nodded politely before turning around again. She hoped he would avert his gaze from her, but he kept on looking at her. It was like he wanted to see every possible part of her body. Her friends had already changed themselves, while she -in her opinion- slow stupid Victoria was still standing here. She quickly pulled a shirt over her petite body, packed all her stuff, grabbed her bag and began to walk out of the changing room. She heard how some boys whispered something and she closed her eyes, hoping nothing was wrong as she felt how her bag that hung on her shoulder slightly moved but when she looked at it, there was nothing. She walked further and her hand touched the doorknob of the changing room when the mysterious boy called her back and she stopped walking, she, feeling her heart drop as her eyes widened.

_"Hey_." She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned quickly around to stare in his mesmerizing but above all hypnotising gaze when she heard the voice. "You almost forgot something," he spoke huskily. She stared up at him, her eyes unconsciously narrowing slightly to stare at him, before they glided slowly down to her hand where he had placed her brush in, in the meantime.

Eyes met again, his ones filled with somehow mischief, before they obtrusively darkened so they got a certain enigmatic glow Victoria couldn't place. She kept on staring at him before the corners of the handsome boy's lips were lifted into a mirthful smile that was quite charming.

''Head in the clouds?'' His chuckle was nice and smooth, his voice low and seductive, his chin now slightly tilted as he stared down at her, eyes slightly narrowed in thoughtfulness.

She came back to present, blinked a few times with her eyes before she cast her eyes down and shook slightly her head as she mumbled, quickly tucking the brush away in her bag. "Eh, thank you," she stammered off guard, but then pulled herself together and lifted her chin in her immortal dignity. 'Never let them take off your crown' was the sentence her dad had always said to her, and it was the only thing she remembered of him but it was her life quote. This quote made sure she still lived, still survived. She felt how parts of her heart were dying every day a little more with no parents, no certainty in life and this quote and her mental wall made sure no one saw the real her.

Because no one had known till today who she really was, who was behind that mental wall.

She didn't even know it herself; the figure in the reflection of the Mirror of Truth was her broken soul, her broken heart, the broken little girl in her. The strong Victoria was slowly perishing till ashes, till faded memories that had the infinity of an unborn child.

"James Oliver," he introduced himself politely and he lifted the corners of his mouth to reveal teeth that were too white to be natural in the girl's opinion."But everybody calls me Oliver. Speaking about calling, I've got something for you," he winked almost flirty at her, before he pulled a pen out of his pocket, grabbed gently her hand with a slight move of dominance in it, before he consecutively wrote down his phone number, the feeling of the pen moving over her skin tickling. He was so close that she stopped breathing, heart pounding like a drum in her chest and her cheeks reddened.

"Veronique," she mumbled a bit, introducing herself, but she then cleared her throat with valour, the quote of her father echoing in her head once more. ''But people only call me like that when people want to bitch at me,'' Oliver snickered when he heard her words. ''Everybody knows me as Victoria so for you it's just…. Victoria,'' again, repeating herself and she was mentally slapping herself ''... Just eh… me.'' She was stumbling over her words, thoughts only working on his gazes and attention and as soon as he averted eye contact with her she felt how thought, mind and common sense all shut down like an engine that had a shortage of gasoline.

''Just you?'' the guy, apparently called Oliver asked with a coquettish wink as he stared deeply in her eyes. She wondered why he was paying so much attention to her, gazing so much at her, was making her feel special, a thing not a single living soul on earth had ever done in all the fifteen years she had lived. "A beautiful name for a beautiful girl,'' he smirked as his eyes moved over her being. She turned crimson and didn't know what to say.

''Well, I see you later, _Victoria_," he winked again before turning around and the teen made his way to his hip-hop lesson.

**END FLASHBACK**

"I see he flirted with you right the second after you two met," Jack noticed, raising his eyebrow when she was done.

"Yes, something wrong with that?" Victoria asked sharply, while moving her head towards Jack, being clearly not a fan of him.

"No, it's just a s_ubtle_ _conclusion_." He sighed after he heard his terrible chose of words. ''Thereby, you say you felt your bag moving, but are you sure he didn't just quickly zipped it open and grabbed the first thing he saw out of it, 'cause I know how cunning that _drop-dead underhand_ boyfriend can be of you.''

"No!'' she denied. ''Guys, I have to tell you guys something and it's super cool, but you have to promise me you won't tell Michael and Katherine." Elsa and Jack nodded in response. "There are scouts and they're looking for teens who are very professional when it comes to ballet to join them on a tour through the United States, but because Michael and Katherine don't know of my ballet secret I'm afraid can't join the auditions! Normally I would forge their signature, but in this situation, it's helpless," Victoria sighed wistfully while she blew a strand of red hair out of her sight. Elsa saw the worry in her eyes.

"Wait, I've heard something about it," Elsa whispered and she remembered the news item she had seen a few months ago about the School of American Ballet searching for ballet talent.

"Anyway about Oliver, later I saw him more often since his hip-hop lesson is after mine and then we've started dating. I could tell him everything, but he began to behave more dominant than ever and he began to use me,'' she began in a soft tone.

''What did he do?'' Jack asked, his gaze meeting Elsa's for a moment.

''He began to ask for the codes of the bank account of Lewis. I didn't want to do it but he had me under his power and he still has. He would tell everything to Michael and Katherine about me silencing ballet from them and then I would immediately be an orphan again with no home, so I pleased him and did it," Victoria confessed. The girl blushed in embarrassment. Elsa noticed how she'd blurted it all out before she'd thought about it.

Jack gave a glance at Elsa that said 'I said Oliver wasn't innocent,' with a devious grin. ''I knew it, I just knew James would let his son do all the dirty work for him,'' Jack groaned with a cunning smirk. Victoria didn't ask anything as she stared lifelessly at the wall across her in trance. Jack began, "Victoria, Oliver lets you do things you don't want to. He's a manipulator, just like his dad-"

"You know his dad?" Victoria asked confusedly, while moving her head in his direction.

"Ever heard of the name Pitch Black?" Jack spoke matter-of-factly. He kissed his teeth for a moment and Elsa had to avert her head before fangirling out loud when she saw how tempting it looked.

Victoria snorted with a scoff. "Of course, that's the guy the police and those 'secret agents' are trying to find. Empty headed losers—" Elsa and Jack snickered, but they immediately shut their mouths when Victoria looked up with a glance that said 'what's funny?'. "Huh, oh no that's not his father," she said arrogantly, her green eyes certain of her business.

But when Elsa and Jack both looked at her with a glance that said 'it's true', the corners of her mouth dropped dramatically, her narrow lips narrowing even more in dismay. "How-"

"That's probably the reason he wants the codes, Victoria. He steals for his dad. So eh could there be a chance that Pitch Black, your boyfriend's father, is stealing from your eh...father's bank account?" The awkwardness hung in Jack's voice.

Victoria raised from her desk chair on wheels and turned around to face the two agents and she crossed self-willed and stubbornly her arms. The couple was still kneeling on the ground and they felt small when they saw how the teen -who was considerably bigger- glared down at them. "That's insane, _no._" Victoria said determinedly.

"Victoria, he lets you steal, lie and he is manipulating you!" Jack warned her, while raising. "I know his father, that Pitch is a glitch to the society, a danger. He's not any better than that whole boyfriend of you—" Jack said warningly while laying his hand upon her shoulder and he looked deeply in her eyes.

"Don't touch me!" she warned him with eyes that spit fire. Jack didn't listen, but Victoria roughly jerked his hand off her shoulder. Her bipolarity was boiling up again. "That's fucking insane! Pitch is _not_ his father," she hissed glaringly while turning herself to Jack and she pointed a finger at him.

"The name is _Oliver fucking Black_! What do you expect, Victoria?! Just accept your boyfriend is the son of maybe the USA's and UK's most wanted and dangerous criminal," Jack hissed at her, now overshadowing her with his dominance. Elsa stepped on his toe in a warning manner that he had to stop with making these tricky comments. Jack hissed in pain for a second and Victoria smiled victoriously. Somehow Elsa thought it was the most ironic situation she'd ever encountered, since that was the meaning of her name.

Victoria cast her eyes down and bit her under lip. Elsa took a step forward. "Victoria, we have to ask something. You know we are your dad's private detectives right? We need evidence for this case but you have to help us," she said seriously as she stood across the teen who had her arms crossed. "But we also need to trust you—"

"A horrible decision, really," Jack mumbled, but again Elsa stepped on his toes, but this time harder. "Elsa_, my love_, you're crushing my toes," he hissed in a whisper tone while he mixed a hiss in it.

"Yes, and _Little Jackie_ if you don't stop now," Elsa hissed playfully back, while winking at Victoria. A giggle escaped Victoria's lips while her eyes became that starry sky again that she'd seen in the photo with her and her mother. Elsa felt how her heart filled itself with warmth and she smiled back.

"Victoria, I trust you even when I don't know you actually quite well but…. You know what I mean."

Victoria bit her under lip and she cocked her head a bit to the side before then speaking. "I won't tell anyone," she promised.

Elsa nodded and spoke again. "I really have to ask you something and please be honest with me," Elsa began seriously. She tried to find the smiling toddler in her eyes back, but the sparkle had immediately faded in her eyes and they were cold again. "Why do you cut yourself?" Elsa asked while plopping down on Victoria's bed, folding her hands on her lap. "Don't say you don't, because I know it. We both do," Elsa said softly but seriously, while gesturing at Jack and her.

Victoria was shocked by the sudden question she got, but then to Elsa and Jack's surprise, a tear escaped the corner of her eye and she plopped down next to Elsa on her bed. She stared forward while the tears began flowing down her pale cheeks, without even blinking. Broken hearts, broken empty promises and broken lives were finally coming to the surface from over the years, the glowing tears in despair rolling down her cheeks, clear as crystal and pure as Polaris herself.

Jack walked towards Victoria and sat next to her, so she was sitting in the middle now on the edge of her bed.

It was silent for a few seconds, but then Victoria broke and there was nothing left of her in one second. Her shoulders jolted heavily and the tears ran down her cheeks. "I-I don't kn-know who I a-am," she sobbed harrowing. Elsa cast her eyes down and had the feeling she wanted to hug the girl. Instead of that she moved slowly and carefully her hand towards Victoria's to take it in hers, taking the risk to be rejected since Victoria was a girl who absolutely loathed physical contact.

Victoria looked up by the sudden touch, her green eyes watery. Elsa smiled at her that was going to be alright. "I-I just don't kn-know w-who I am be-because I have no p-parents anymore. I-I ho-hope they're still alive…" she began to cry even more when Elsa pulled her close as she shushed the girl, rocking her in her arms. Victoria sobbed in Elsa's chest, the girl's shoulders jolting heavily. They broke apart and Victoria moved her sleeve past one of her cheeks before she whispered. 'Sorry for all my sudden crying when you hugged me but my mother used to do that as well and I haven't been hugged by someone in years,'' she confessed.

''It's alright,'' Elsa smiled softly.

"How old were you when you were adopted for the first time?" Jack frowned, a bit in a laconic tone since Jack wasn't inflammable for cry stories of a girl he wasn't particular fan of and it was clear he wanted to solve a case and not the problems of a teen that was going through rough times in life.

"I was four," Victoria answered. Elsa and Jack shared the same glance, while Elsa stared at her ring, down. The four-year-old girl, the red hair, the green eyes, the date on the back of the photo of her and her mother, her mother who was called Aurelie. Plus she was orphan, just like the jeweller told about the girl in the fire. She asked if this was her mother's ring, Aurelie's. The feeling made her nauseous.

But then that also meant Victoria was a daughter of Aurelie Leroux.

But she had a daughter Veronique?

Then she understood it.

"Do you remember anything of your past?" Jack asked further, like this was a cross-examination.

Victoria shut her eyes, another tear escaping her eye. "I remember gunshots. No, it was one. I remember how someone wrapped its arms around me, like that the person wanted to protect me. I…I remember a sapphire blue ring and a man in black? But that's probably just... stupid," Victoria spoke softly and almost insecurely. The colour drained away of Elsa's face and she stared shocked down at the sapphire ring. It was the ring of her mother, it was the same ring that had been in the shooting, it was the ring, the story of the jeweller that held the same past behind itself as Victoria.

The pasts were inevitably connected.

It was a miracle that Victoria hadn't noticed anything yet. Elsa took the ring off and let it slide into one of her pockets to save the girl of any more drama. Jack nodded in a way that she'd made the right choice, since he'd seen everything in the corner of his eye. Victoria didn't see anything because she'd continued to shut her eyes, as sometimes her shoulder jolted.

"I can't remember my dad, my mother... only blur images of how my mother was in person. I have one photo of her. She had her red hair and blue eyes, but I wonder from whom I have my eye colour," Victoria mumbled. Elsa looked at her, now especially in her emerald green eyes that had slight veins of blue in them when she mentioned it and again she saw recognition in them, but she couldn't place it.

''I always have nightmares about the shooting. But that's of course when I manage to fall sleep, a thing that's very hard for me. I think a lot about it, but the memories are becoming vaguer and vaguer. I'm just so scared of a gun now," Victoria sighed with a trembled voice while she stared in trance down to the floor beneath her.

"PTSD," Elsa whispered in trance, staring at the floor.

Jack and Victoria 'what?' gaze and Elsa explained; "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event," Elsa rattled again like she was a walking encyclopaedia.

Jack and Victoria oh-ed softly in unison.

"Victoria, how did it ever come so far that you cut yourself?" Jack asked timidly in a serious tone, while he tried to face her and now with success.

A chuckle filled with mock escaped her lips, while she deathly narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you see? I have no grip on life. I don't know who I am, who my parents are. I am adopted, I have a house but not a home, I want to meet my real parents but I don't know how. I have the Bipolar Disorder so I am practically an emotional rollercoaster every day, every second of my life and my boyfriend is pushing me to do thing I don't want to."

Victoria spoke at the end of her sentence softly and sensitive like she could break instantly, but there was a tone of hate hidden in her being. Not the hate of where she'd been through, no she said it with hate to Jack, in a way of 'you won't understand it anyway'.

"So Vero... I really appreciate you've shared this with us, but you have to promise one thing; help us in this case and we'll shut our mouths to Michael and Katherine about that you've stolen the codes, okay?" Jack smirked at her, while extending his hand to shake hands with the redhead like it was a business deal and Elsa saw he was doing exactly what she wanted; to be treated like a grown up. Problem with Victoria was that she didn't want to become a grown up, but she wanted to be treated like one.

Quite an antithesis.

Victoria first stared at his hand, bit her lip but then she placed her hand in his. "Deal."

"Let's head home, darling," Jack suggested with a sigh, speaking to Elsa, while he moved his head towards her. Elsa's heart fluttered when he said that.

She looked up and smiled. "Yes, I think that's a good plan, dear," she smiled 'in love' half acted, half real, while Jack winked at her for a seconds. Thoughts of the blonde asked if that had been acted as well. They raised and walked towards the living room with Victoria in the lead. Elsa quickly put her ring on again, since Jack had whispered in her ear she had to do so.

They entered the living room and Elsa looked up when she saw that Hans and Michael were sitting at the dining table, doing business on their MacBooks.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked in a demanding tone, while she walked towards the MacBook of Hans and looked at it. She pushed screen -without asking- further open, so she could see what was on it. "Ugh, business and economics, how fun," Victoria snorted sarcastically with the disapproval in her voice. She arrogantly lifted her chin again and walked away from him, her characteristic high ponytail swinging with her as she walked away, again on her phone.

Hans chuckled with a soft smile. "It has to be done, Vero. Plus it can be pretty fun," he snickered while looking at Michael to wink quickly at him before he sipped some of his coffee. The teen flipped her long auburn hair backwards so it now lay on her back as she mumbled something about maths and her and that that wasn't a good combination but it was almost unintelligible.

"Victoria, how was school today?" Michael asked in a patiently and friendly tone, while he shifted in his chair to look at his foster child. Elsa saw in the corner of her eye that Hans looked up from typing and stared at the screen. He was probably listening, or thinking as Katherine also looked up.

Victoria looked up from whatsapping. She rolled her eyes, while shrugging. "Why would you even care?!" she snapped bitchy back, eyes rolling into the back of her head and she walked consecutively away to the corridor to let Jack and Elsa out.

Jack already walked towards the corridor, but Elsa stood where she stood. She still couldn't trust Hans for her feeling. He had been extra alert the past couple of minutes, always looked up and listened very carefully to every conversation that had been made. She couldn't help but think of the good Hans she'd known so many years ago; when he was happy, a warm man who gave love. And she couldn't place how this dedicated family man had become a cold snake with detached body language, as the love had disappeared in the meantime out of his eyes, his veins, but most of all out of his heart.

She walked towards the fella, placed both of her hands on the edge of the table to lean on it, one hand on the left, one on the right. She hovered a bit over it, while wearing an immortal smirk and spoke nonchalantly. "Oh Mr. Westerguard, what a nice suit you have," Elsa said with a seductive smile while hovering over the table, trying cunningly to see what he was doing on his computer in the meantime.

Her eyes slightly widened when she saw he was on the Internet and there was one other tab opened in Google Chrome with the name _ISA_. Hans was an ex-agent who had taken dismissal before he became what he was now; Searched by the ISA himself, cocky, and cold-hearted. For God's sake, why was he searching for the ISA? When she 'zoomed in' with her scrutiny gaze, she saw he was in the database which only ISA agents could enter or you had to hack the whole system down.

Hans coldly raised an eyebrow and closed his MacBook with a thud. He then looked at her from head to toe, judging her with his serious gaze, peridot eyes radiating severe coldness. A tense atmosphere arose between the two, while Hans' eyes glided over her body, up and down, which gave her an anxious feeling, trying to make her feel small.

Elsa looked up when he saw how the colour had drained away from his face, as he stared at her hand with the sapphire blue ring on it. His eyes widened and he swallowed before looking at Elsa, his venom green eyes piercing through her for the twenty-six-year-old's feeling. He made an intimidating cock of his eyebrows. His eyes never averted of her face, his stare impassively, as if it looked like he was under trance. The colour had drained away from his face.

Elsa felt a certain unnerving, so she removed her hand from the table, trying to snap him out of his gaze.

"_Sweetheart_, _let's go_," she heard Jack calling her from the corridor.

For the last time she raised coldly an eyebrow at him, turned around and walked to Jack while the scene of what had just happened kept on replaying in her head.

Her doubts were confirmed;

Yes, this Hans, 'the financial advisor of Michael', had more to hide.

_So much more. _


	17. Chapter XVI an odd meeting

Movies » Rise of the Guardians » **Nemesis (the Vengeance of Love)**

Author: BlossomofEos

1\. PROLOGUE 2. Chapter I The ISA 3. Chapter II Welcome to New York 4. Chapter III the first night 5. Chapter IIII the appointment 6. Chapter V Assumptions with holes 7. Chapter VI my wife had a playful moment? 8. Chapter VII a V for victory 9. Chapter VIII the party 10. Chapter IX The story behind the ring 11. Chapter X fingerprints 12. Chapter XI cuts 13. Chapter XII jackson? 14. Chapter XIII Stilettos 15. Chapter XIV things to hide 16. Chapter XV Queen Bee on the throne 17. Chapter XVI an odd meeting 18. Chapter XVII A kiss for a heartbeat 19. Chapter XVIII periods and movienights 20. Chapter XIV Hans 21. Chapter XX Behind a mask of shadows 22. Chapter XXI Pentagram 23. Chapter XXII part I: Get it right 24. Chapter XXII part II: Get it right 25. Chapter XXIII on the run 26. Chapter XXIIII PART I: Where are you 27. Chapter XXIIII PART II: where are you 28. Chapter XXIIII PART III: Where are you 29. Chapter XXV PART I: bad blood 30. Chapter XXV PART II: bad blood 31. Chapter XXVI Delirium 32. Chapter XXVII Remorse and bullets 33. Chapter XXVIII: code 318 34. Chapter XXVIIII: a new father 35. Chapter XXX: Nike 36. Chapter XXXI: salvation 37. Chapter XXXII: layers 38. Chapter XXXIII: evil 39. Chapter XXXIIII: blood

Rated: M - English - Romance/Crime - Reviews: 331 - Published: 01-14-15 - Updated: 04-06-16

id:10971450

**CHAPTER XVI PART I: awkward discoveries**

**ELSA**

It was three days later and the two were a bit lost in the case, both wondering what the next step would be in their investigation. She and Jack sat at the dining table, both still wearing their sleepwear. –and as always had Jack still lack when it came to Elsa's shirt-_on_ rule-. She couldn't help but stare at his well-formed torso. She rolled with her eyes in seduction. Without that she wanted it she began to create feelings for this man. But the heart and Aphrodite's love belt was stronger than her will. How more she told herself not to create a weakness for him, how more she giggled in his presence. She looked like one of all those women who worked for the ISA; they all practically fainted when they saw the handsome fella walking through the corridors of the ISA office in LA, but none of the time he felt something for them as well. Jack was just a player who kicked at lying with the whole ISA in bed.

He had the flirts from Jack Frost, but the careful behaviour came from Jackson Overland, the sweet sensitive guy, who she could trust blindly.

Was she falling in love with Jack or Jackson? was this burning question she had. She didn't know it. She had the idea he was a mix in her presence and somehow she liked that most of all. He was a sweet sensitive guy who cared about her, but he was also a flirtatious gentleman who had this impeccable seductive glow that surrounded him like an aura everywhere he went to.

''Hey El, I was thinking; how about hearing some recordings Olaf's collar has made?'' Jack began. He was simultaneously typing things down on his computer, probably answering mails.

''Good idea,'' she nodded before she walked in his direction. The blonde stood behind him within seconds, before wrapping thoughtlessly her arms around his neck, leaning against him with only the back of the chair where Jack sat on separating the two. Her hands glided without even knowing down to his chest. The HSP was tired as fuck after all the impressions of the past days. Especially Victoria, as an almost depressive person, was a girl that sucked all her energy away since Elsa kept on reading her body language. In the end she didn't even notice where her hands were because of her fatigue and that wasn't a snickered softly when he felt her hands grazing over his body, while he typed things down on his MacBook.

Elsa snapped out of her thoughts. The eyes widened of the blonde as her heart dropped and she immediately pulled her hands confoundedly away while she apologised herself quickly, her cheeks reddening, when she realised what she was doing.

"No problem," he mumbled friendly but she knew there was a devious smile planted on his face. "Got it," he mumbled before he made his final move by pressing the enter button on his keyboard the next second. She saw how data loaded on the screen, all with footage of recorded conversations. "Let's begin," he sighed business-like as well scrupulously. He clicked on the first footage and it opened. Within seconds Elsa heard a conversation.

"_He is so soft and sweet_," Victoria giggled affably. Elsa listened to every word she said. Victoria was so nice now, so caring. Elsa was surprised to hear that this girl could actually give a thing called love.

Jack paused the footage. "Elsa, can you get an espresso for me?" He spoke like he was the CEO here.

'Huh, yes _Boss_.'

"Of course," she sighed sedately before walking to the coffee machine to throw a cup into it.

''_And did those guys just give you a dog?''_ they heard a girl saying. '_'Like for you birthday? Just a dog? But you don't even know them!''_

"When this footage was made, she was at Central Park, walking the dog. She stood still here, so she was probably sitting on a bench," Jack mumbled. Elsa's eyes moved to the screen of Jack. So to see he could track Olaf's collar since she saw a map of New York. And indeed in Central Park was her dog tracked.

"You've got to be kidding me," Elsa spoke stunned, now she realised that her sweet husband was practically a _die-hard hacker._

"_I know Simone, and I still don't understand why that Jack and Elsa have given him to me_, but I really think they just wanted to be nice or so…" they heard Victoria mumbling.

''_Why a poodle? I think bigger dogs to medium size dogs are more something for a girl you. Not a poodle! That's really something for Faye,…_'' another girl spoke.

''_If she is happy with that litte mutt let her be, Iz_. Her life, her dog, not mine,'' a boy's teen voice -which they recognised as Oliver's- groaned at the girl. Elsa remembered how Victoria had told her that Simone called Lizzy by her nickname 'Izzy' and now Oliver was probably using a version that was even shorter than her nickname.

''Are these teens gathering in Central Park or so?'' Jack groaned.

''_It's not a mutt!_'' Victoria protested. '_'What kind of dog do you like then?''_ she asked to her boyfriend.

''_Give me an Irish Setter, damn those dogs are beautiful_,'' Oliver spoke.

''_They are known to be very sensitive and emotionally very fragile. Sure that's the right dog for you then?_'' Simone spoke dauntlessly. Lizzy giggled in the background when she heard Simone's spry comment. Elsa just somehow knew Oliver was flashing a glare at Simone. '_'Hey I mean no offence, but if you are done with someone you just slap them and tell them to shut the fuck up,'' _the brunette continued in a tone like she was shrugging.

''Those are people, human beings that are as untrustworthy as fuck, and I'm not going to beat a dog. Dogs are the only things that won't let you down. People do and they always will. Never trust anyone,'' Oliver groaned wisely back.

"Okay and on to the next conversation since this is just a stupid conversation," Jack mumbled and he clicked on other footage as Elsa served simultaneously his coffee. He nodded in gratitude with a seductive wink. Cheeks reddened a bit while she felt how butterflies flattered in her stomach. "This was a few days after Victoria's birthday party where we went to," Jack spoke quickly.

"_Hans, 6,900,000 dollars have been stolen of my private and business bank account. I don't understand how this can be happening. Maybe someone hacked something this time, but the passwords of my bank account were gone again this morning. Who has opened the safe?_" they heard Michael asking in slight panic and desperation. Elsa looked on the screen and Olaf was probably in the living room at the Smith's, lying down in his bench.

"_I don't know. I've been in the safe as your financial advisor but you know you can trust me. Although, I saw Victoria yesterday in the corridor, muffling a thing behind her back when I left your appointment. I'm not blaming your... daughter_," Hans said in an awkward tone, not knowing how to say it differently, since Victoria was of course not Michael's biological child, "_but I just wonder what she was hiding behind her back_." Elsa almost _heard_ Hans shrugging while he said it quite apathetic.

"_Victoria has nothing to do in the corridor, especially not with my safe. But did you see that Oliver, her boyfriend? I really don't like him.-"_

"_Michael, the boyfriend of your daughter has nothing to do with this case. I'm sure of it_."

"Why is that Hans protecting Oliver? Every stupid ass knows Oliver is a dick-head," Jack groaned through gritted teeth in his aversion for the boy. "Hans says he knows her boyfriend. From where? By just seeing him? It looks like our Mr. Westerguard knows Oliver in the way he talks about him," Jack ascertained, while he still listened to the footage.

"_I'm worrying myself about Victoria. She is so detached, is not talking to us for days, locks herself up in her room, is quickly mad and is socially not approachable. It's like she's paranoid,''_ Michael sighed wistfully in despondence. ''Any idea where she suffers of?''

"_Maybe two disorders?_" Hans suggested laconically. '_'How about the Bipolar Disorder combined with the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Looks like a perfect combination for the state of mind she is in lately.''_

"_How do you know she has them?_" they heard Michael asking with the suspicion in his voice.

"_I have a Bipolar Disorder. A less worse version than Vic, but still I have it. Believe me, I know where she's going through,''_they heard Hans saying calmly.

''You know her apparently better than me as her foster father,'' Michael noticed.

Hans snickered, but then became serious; "_I've known Veronique for five months now and all I can say is that this girl has something I can't place. She looks cold and detached, but I'm sure of it she is much better than this. She can be very sweet and a warm person._"

"_Out of what can you conclude that?_" Michael asked suspiciously, his voice calm, but Elsa heard a low groan hidden in it. Hans was silent for a moment and Elsa first thought the system had shut down, but he then spoke, quite belatedly but determinedly.

"_I see it in her eyes.''_

It kept on being silent until Hans spoke again._ ''Victoria has built a mental wall around herself, but don't forget that's a result of that this child has a horrible and violent past. She is mentally scarred_."

"Okay enough about Victoria, on to the next tape." Jack sighed and in no-time, another conversation was to be heard. Well, actually a quarrel. "This happened like a week ago."

They heard Michael talking authoritatively and they could hear in one second he was warning somebody. The conversation was muffled, but soon Olaf had made his way in the room and the voices were audible again. "_Victoria, speak in a normal tone to Hans and me. I just asked you politely to leave since you know you have no business here in my study room._"

"_I go where I want to go to! And I talk to someone how I want to talk to someone, since you can't boss me around; you're not my parent either my father!'' _Victoria hissed in a menacingly tone at Michael. Elsa already made an image of the girl in her head how she would narrow her peridot coloured eyes till they were nothing more than slits, trying with this warning look to shut people out.

"_Yes, I am your father and-_"

"_No. No you are not! Stop calling me your daughter and yourself my father. I have a father, I have a mother; a family and I will find them," _Victoria spoke determinedly and wisely.

"_Victoria, calm down about your family, please; you're here for a reason; because you have no parents anymore, please try to accept it,_" Michael spoke magisterially but seriously and soberly as always, since Elsa didn't know this ruthless business man any better.

"_Michael, I don't know if I'm allowed to interfere myself with it but I think it's good Victoria has hope and fights where she stands for,_" Hans spoke approvingly. Elsa raised an eyebrow in suspicion but also curiousity. The coldness out of Hans' voice was gone and she again heard the caring man. She didn't know he still had it in himself.

Michael responded with an irritated undertone; "_I understand that Hans, but at the moment I have no time for hope, dreams and wishes. I have an international bank to run at Wall Street, money has been stolen, and I need to handle an unruly bipolar daughter-_"

"_Yes! Put the blame on me, why not?! It's always Veronique who causes trouble, it's always that unruly poor little orphan! Well I'm better than that!'' Victoria hissed pissed-off at Michael. Then she continued, ''I hate you! I understand why you don't have children of your own with your wife; why would she want them with a jerk like you?!_"

Jack whistled softly when he heard Victoria's probably quite painful words. "Vero is known for speaking her mind," he whistled, but the last words of Jack where cut off since they heard a _WHAM_ in the background.

Elsa covered her mouth while gasping in outrage. "Did he slap her?- Did he just-" Jack shushed her while his blue eyes were filled with concentration, but also worry.

They heard a sob in the background, probably from Victoria. They heard footsteps in the background and Michael walked to the girl. "_I-I'm sorry Victoria, I didn't mean it, I was just-"_

"_N-no. S-stay away fr-from me. Le-leave me b-be and d-don't tr-try to tou-touch me_," they heard Victoria sobbing while her words were almost muffled away, since she had buried her face in her hands.

"_Oh Victoria, I'm sorry, I-_"

"_I'm so done with this life!_" Victoria yelled with a raspy voice while sobbing wistfully in her pain and they heard how she ran away and a door -probably her bedroom's- was consecutively closed with a loud _bang_.

"Did he just slap her in front of his financial advisor?" Elsa whispered in disbelief, as she plopped down in her chair before running through her hair in all the questions she had, mind blank in shock. Victoria had never spoken a word about this occasion so this was like falling out of the sky.

"Well so to hear his tone it really was an accident. He just lashed out without thinking and I think there is a reason behind it;'' Jack began thoughtfully and he continued; ''Victoria began about his wife and not having kids of their own and then he lashed out with no warning, even though they were quarrelling the whole time already."

''_Michael, do you slap her more often?_'' Hans asked softly as it looked like his voice was absent after a nerving silence.

''_No, not at all. I've always concealed myself of it even though I've been angry at her quite often lately…''_

''_Victoria is smart; she knows exactly what's going on with you and Katherine even though you don't talk about it in her presence.''_

''_Dear Lord, she'll never forgive me this,'' _Michael sighed wistfully.

''_Sorry, but I can insist you that,'' _Hans snickered_. ''Once you make that little hot head pissed off she needs some time to cool down.''_

Jack moved on to the next conversation. Elsa's eyes widened when she heard the footage. Scratches and a high-pitched bark were to be heard before a voice spoke.

"_Hey Olaf!_" How odd; it was _her_ with Victoria's dog when she was busy with finding fingerprints on the safe of Michael.

"_Hey Sweetie! Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Yeah, I thought so too. And that bad boo-boo of a Jack? Did he just ignore you? Did he just ignore you? Mrs. Frost has a cocky husband, don't you think so? Don't you think so? Come here for a hug,_" she heard herself saying with a high-pitched tone while talking to the adorable ball of white curls. Elsa felt she blushed furiously in embarrassment and unease. Oh god, she'd totally forgotten he could hear everything. She bit her lip while staring at her lap, not daring to look at him.

"Interesting," he snickered thoughtfully as he paused the footage to turn his head in her direction while he drummed in a playful way with his fingers on the table. She saw in the corner of her eye that he was cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry if I've offended you," she said a bit softly with regret. She thought Jack was going to glare at her, or whatever more but before she could blink with her eyes, the room was filled with laughter. _Laughter_. Jack was laughing? She looked confusedly up to meet his eyes so she could check if he was joking. "Eh Jack, are you okay?" she asked while suspiciously narrowing her eyes as she observed him.

Jack giggled a bit after before turning himself towards her. "You have a lot of talk about your flawless husband.''

Elsa raised even more her eyebrow now, lifting it so far upwards that she had the idea it reached her _hairline_. She still couldn't believe Jack thought it was funny? But before she knew it she was laughing as well. She asked why his laugh was so contagiously and filled with happiness, why they were giggling like six-year-olds and why they were laughing. She didn't know it. Maybe it was just because she wanted to laugh in his presence, have some fun and enjoy this moment of forgetting all your worries.

When they were done with giggling she turned serious again and the blonde faced Jack with a frown. "Let's go to Katherine and Michael to ask things about Victoria. Maybe she was different than all 'this' when she was adopted by them. And don't tell me this kid has nothing to do with the case," she quickly hissed at the end of her sentence while pointing a finger at him.

''Plus, maybe this time people did hack things on Michael's computer. Let's find it out and well now.''

She knocked on the door of Michael and Katherine's apartment while she held affably hands with Jack. It wasn't forced anymore; she really liked it to be close to him. He acted like Jack Frost to the outside world but like Jackson Overland to her, with sometimes the cheekiness of Jack Frost mixed in it. Elsa was convinced that exactly that was making him so attractive lately. Her sensitive, but sturdy and well-dressed husband was now for only five more months lying next to her and after that she had to let him go. Maybe she would get another case with him? Or maybe all what they 'had' would perish into a sober and strict work relationship at the workplace after they solved this case and would go back to their own lives?

She sighed contemplative when her mind made the thought of losing him. She moved her head to the right to lie her head upon his shoulder, not wanting to lose him, Jackson. The idea made her almost feel nauseous.

They heard footsteps in the corridor behind the front door of the Smith's and to their unpleasant surprise _Hans_ opened the door. The redhead's venom green eyes shot open when he saw the two and he cocked meticulously in the crease an eyebrow at especially Elsa before flashing a quick glare. But then he placed a fake smile on his -in the Elsa's opinion-_perfectly disgusting_ face. "Elsa, Jack... Come in," he said business-like while tilting slightly his chin, almost in a way to glare down at the two.

Elsa asked herself why _he_ opened the door. Maybe he had an appointment with Michael? Well, it was clear Hans was a lot to be found in household Smith. She snorted coldly. They walked inside the Upper East Side apartment, to the bright living room and dining room in one.

Hans took place at the dinner table again where his MacBook was placed on and so to see, Mr. Westerguard was doing business. '-Huh, hacking the ISA data base again you mean-' a voice in her head scoffed almost pissed-off. Nobody was in the living room and it was silent in the kitchen. In question turned Elsa and Jack their heads in each other's direction.

"Where is Michael? Katherine? Victoria?" Elsa snorted suspiciously and she felt how her voice became defended with the word 'Victoria', not wanting her to get hurt. She now realised she cared more and more about the teen and that she wanted to know everything of her for some odd reason.

Those green eyes hid more than Nyx.

"Michael is back to work at Wall Street, Katherine can arrive in any minute, and Victoria is at home but she's in her room, sitting her depression of a manic episode she just had out," Hans ended laconically while he was typing things down on his computer, not even bothering to give them a glance. He spoke about Victoria's bipolarity like it was almost a routine thing.

"And you are...?" Jack asked while moving his hands forward with a turn, in a way the redhead had to end his sentence.

"Doing business for Michael," Hans shot coldly and detachedly at them in concision. He disguised his true intentions clearly.

"How did you enter the house?" Jack asked suspiciously, cocking an eyebrow upwards before walking towards Hans to lean with his hand upon the wooden dining table, slightly hovering over it.

"I have the key. Thereby, why would you two even care about how me being capable of entering the house of Michael and Katherine? If I have to believe your sweet talk you two are nothing more but friends of them,'' Hans said resolutely, and he looked up from his typing to face them. His eyes were playful in a mortifying way. Elsa had the idea he knew everything, why they were here and for what. He knew things about the International Security Agency, since he was an ex-agent of course and that painful little detail didn't make the case particularly better or easier.

"And about Victoria… I assume she talks back to a person who has the same…_ problems_,'' Elsa snorted. Jack had to restrain himself of giggling when he heard her choice of words, but Elsa made sure she crushed his toes in time to stop him from laughing.

Hans looked up, cocked an eyebrow upwards and narrowed suspiciously his eyes. "Yeah, I have whole conversations with her. I'm interested why you want to know that?" he asked business-like but almost defensive, while lifting his chin, trying to see what the intention was behind this for the man, obnoxious intervention.

Elsa asked herself how it was possible to get a smooth conversation with a Vero who was as closed as an oyster. Even when you would put her in boiling water, she wouldn't open up her shell. Elsa just wanted to see the pearl she hid in herself, behind her mental wall. But apparently the redhead was scared it would be stolen, that they would take it away from her, her real self, her sensitive side.

If she just made an attempt to trust someone.

"Where do you talk about with her?" Elsa groaned in dismay and almost jealously, since so to see Hans knew how to handle her.

"I see we're still putting our nose in someone else's business," Hans shot snarky with a cocky hiss at her, narrowing his eyes in his dismay, as he closed his body language. She asked herself from where she recognised this behaviour. His iris narrowed and she'd read that happens automatically when people see something they don't like. The reversed thing happens when humans see something or a person they are interested in; their irises would then dilate.

"What are you trying to say?" Jack groaned.

"Well, so funny to see you two emerging from out of nowhere as Michael and Katherine's 'friends' directly one week after money has been stolen," Hans thoughtfully but in a playful way that could be described as nothing more but cunning and conniving if she had to word it, while he fumbled restlessly and nonchalantly with his chin. His emerald green eyes darkened in an obnoxious way. ''Does the name 'ISA' rings a bell?'' he spoke amusedly.

A skipped heartbeat.

Elsa narrowed her eyes in defence. She felt how Jack's hand glided down the side of her leg to find hers so he held it, now they felt how the nerving and obnoxious atmosphere increased. Elsa parted her lips to speak, but Jack squeezed her hand in a way that every word they would add now could make them tangled in their lies in the future and it was like they finally had some luck in these situations, because they heard how the front door opened and closed with a thud so they luckily didn't have to spend one more word to him.

Everybody looked up and the taciturn as well obnoxious atmosphere spat like a bubble. Hans cleared his throat to concentrate himself at his screen and the fella pretended like nothing had happened.

Katherine walked into the living room with her designers bag on her arm, her brown hair perfectly styled. She looked fabulous and 'sans soucci', running her life with no effort, but Elsa remembered the conversations she'd heard within the family and she tried to look beyond the smiling woman's mental wall, but she couldn't get any closer. Or she was getting worse at 'reading people' and trying to look past someone's mental wall, or people just knew how to made their mental wall out of practically concrete material.

Eyes are the window to a person's soul and to the dismay of the twenty-six-year-old; Katherine was a closed book, locked with a clasp. "Oh, hello!" she greeted her and Jack while smiling vivaciously, before she lifted her sunglasses on the top of her head.

"Hello, ehm Katherine is it alright if we ask you some questions?" Jack asked business-like while he moved his finger over his under lip, fumbling with it and Elsa had to look away before she fainted. He was so handsome when he did that and he had to stop doing it because she felt every time how these annoying butterflies -which she didn't want to accept- were flattering in her stomach, making this playful and frisky vortex that made her giggle.

"Of course, where is it about?" Katherine asked curiously with a friendly smile while walking to the modern kitchen to get some coffee and tea for them.

"We want to talk about Victoria," Elsa spoke out of nowhere while clearing business-like her throat, a bit nervous while she twisted restlessly and neurotically her sapphire blue diamond ring, the ring of Aurelie, around her finger, a thing that was a strange habit of her lately.

Elsa was a bit disorientated in her words, but then she saw how Katherine looked in surprise up. "About Victoria? I assume she has nothing to do with this," Katherine spoke suspiciously, while she was opening the cupboards, to search for some things, talking over her shoulder. "Oh do you want tea or coffee? Hans, espresso as always?" she added quickly over her shoulder. Hans nodded and she threw consecutively two cups into the coffee machine to make an espresso for her and the financial advisor of her husband although Elsa knew Hans was also good befriended with Katherine.

"For me tea and for my husband coffee, please," Elsa smiled warmly while moving her head in Jack's direction with a genuine but most of all playful grin. He snickered along with her when the two still remembered how she had given him tea so he had almost spit it out when Katherine had begun about kids a few months ago, plus Jack hated tea so that had made the situation even better.

"And oh no, just curiosity," Jack snickered softly, as he pulled her closer to him so she felt how her hip bumped slightly in his side. She wrapped her arms around him like he was a teddy bear she never wanted to lose, while inhaling the scent of his perfume mixed with his aftershave by putting her nose in his neck to nuzzle in it. Jack snickered, while he hugged her back, so they just stood there, hugging each other. After that, she laid her head on his chest, while hearing his comforting heartbeat.

"Give me a kiss," he whispered gently in her ear but it wasn't a command, it was suggesting in a way a married couple would do when they were happy.

Elsa's eyes first widened, hoping he meant it, but she then realised they had to act this all and that it was nothing more but a staged kiss actually. She bended to give him a quick peck on the lips, but he laid his hand behind the back of her head to gently pull her in for a longer kiss. There wasn't tongue involved in it but it was still charming when he kissed her. They broke apart and when she looked in his eyes she couldn't find any emotion in them; he had closed every part of his body language, his eyes almost lifeless for a moment. He was hiding all his thoughts, mind. Like this it was impossible to find out if he liked her back. Then she thought he was just acting this all and that there could be no way he liked her.

He loved her, and that was a big past tense.

**JACK**

He looked deeply in her blue lagoon eyes. He saw for a swift second insecurity. She had this enigmatic mystery in her aura that hung around her like a cloud of dreamy perfume. Elsa wasn't a woman who revealed everything in one second; when she trusted you, she would share background stories, her life, her feelings and her insecurities.

"So sweet to see how close you two are," Katherine smiled warmly as well brightly while she had come back in the meantime with coffee and tea in her hand for him and Elsa to put it down on the dining table where Hans was still working at. She walked back and then gave Hans his tea while bringing hers also with her. Jack looked for one second at Hans, but he saw how the advisor rolled slightly with his eyes when Katherine spoke his sentence; it was clear Mr. Westerguard had his suspicions when it came to their 'marriage'.

Elsa smiled just like Jack a bit strained. They sat down at the wooden dining table. Hans sat at the diagonally opposite of her, concentrating himself at his screen but Jack knew he was about to listen to every conversation that was about to be made in the room. "So, you wanted to know things about Victoria?" Katherine asked friendly, but Jack heard the slight suspicion in her voice while she wrapped her hands around her coffee mug.

Jack nodded and he ran through his hair before laying his hand on Elsa's. "Well, how did it begin with Victoria? Any strange things? Since I'm interested in her social progression with people and her bipolarity," Elsa spoke cautiously, while she frowned severely. It looked like Elsa was more and more interested in the life of the teen, but he had to admit it, Victoria brought an aura of mystery with her so you tried to find out what was behind her.

"Well... We have her now for let me think... a year now I guess and I have to say her behaviour was worse when we met her," Katherine began with a heavily sigh which was filled with despondence and wistfulness.

"Like?" Hans mumbled while he was typing things down on his computer, not facing Katherine at all.

"Locking herself up in her room, not wanting to eat, always going to her boyfriend to then go to Central Park to do God-knows-what there with Oliver's friends, she doesn't talk to us and she tries to dodge being at home. Not that it is particularly better now but we have seen her more depressed." Katherine's talk was almost laconic.

"I'm wondering how you and Michael handle her in such situations,'' Hans spoke curiously while he bit his lip for a second before he turned himself to Katherine.

"We tell her to behave normal, has to stop ignoring us and come out of her room, we tell her she has to stop wearing earplugs in twenty-four/seven, but how more we push her, how more she acts detachedly and standoffishly. It's a lost case for my feeling," Katherine mumbled wistfully.

Hans spoke seriously. "Katherine, if you have that energy you're radiating that at Victoria, and I think you should leave her be for a while; let her listen to her music, let her sit in her room, alone, she doesn't do it to irritate you, either your husband. She does it so she isn't bothering anyone. And I'm sure of it that no one wants to be alone. _No one_."

"Yes, but you know how she feels, you have a slight Bipolar Disorder as well," Katherine sighed a bit while stirring restlessly in her tea. And then Hans spoke wisely, as Elsa recognised the tone; someone else she knew had the exact same tone.

"You don't have to understand the child, the child has to understand you."

To Hans' amusement it was silent after his words.

"Have you ever heard her background story?" Jack asked interestedly, while he lifted lightly his chin in his curiosity. He sat lumped in his chair, ready for a good background story before sipping some of his coffee.

Katherine sighed and stared down at her tea before speaking and facing them. "No, although we know she has had a lot of foster families and that she has been in a shooting, but you should've seen her when she came here.-"

**FLASHBACK**

**KATHERINE**

Michael and Katherine entered their apartment with their new adoption child walking behind them. Her name was Veronique but Victoria was the common name everyone used. The fifteen-year-old had long auburn, slightly waving chair that reached her elbows and cold green eyes where the life had disappeared from stared lifelessly at the outside world. Her mother was French and her father was Danish, but she was born in the United States, since both of her parents had both moved in their teen years to the land of an 'American Dream'. Because of this, the redhead was trilingual raised –she spoke French, Danish and English-. Her previous foster parents -who lived in Boston- had warned her and her husband that the girl had a violent past.

They had asked what it meant, but the couple shrugged and mumbled something about the vengeance of love if that made one; any sense and two; anything clearer.

The girl was obtrusively silent and hadn't spoken a word to them when they had seen her for the first time. They didn't even got a 'hi', not even a nod, no; all they got was a cold glare from Victoria, before she'd crossed the next second her arms and averted her head from her new parents. The girl had this detached demeanour that said 'don't come any closer'.

Her jawline was as sharp as her perverse gaze and her pale complexion was as beautiful as a full moon.

Katherine had already exchanged the exact same glance with Michael in the car when they headed home; that raising this child was going to be a hard task. Victoria had sat the whole trip in the backseat with her iPhone and earplugs in. They had heard how she -to their surprise- listened to classic music, the girl continuing to stare impassively out of the window to the outside world with this cold, and most of all expressionless gaze, life passing her apathetically.

They walked into the corridor, the fifteen-year-old following them with her suitcase on her side, still having her earplugs in her ears as she wore a face that wore such a grumpy mood that Katherine was afraid that it would never pass.

Victoria unplugged her earphones and looked at them, her new parents. The teen cocked coldly an eyebrow at them before narrowing her eyes. She jerked her hip to the left to lean on her right leg, before averting her gaze from her and husband to look bored around. It was clear she wasn't impressed when it came to the Upper East Side. Her look said enough; she already disgusted the whole situation.

Her husband parted his lips to speak while he wrapped his arm around his wife's waist. "Well Victoria, welcome to your new home-"

"I call it a house; not every house is a home and this is a perfect example," she spoke wisely with a tone of cheekiness in it, not afraid to look the couple straight in the eyes. It were only the first words she'd spoken to them and yet Katherine knew immediately this girl knew more of the world than a fifteen-year-old should know.

Michael moved his head in her direction, cocking amusedly as well flabbergasted an eyebrow at her, before moving his head in the direction of Victoria again and Michael spoke calmly. "I understand what you mean, but a family makes a home and maybe when you are accustomed to us, the house, your surroundings, you can call it one."

Victoria scoffed with mock, biting her narrow under lip for a second and her green eyes turned cold and detached. "Who do you two think you are to call you my family?! I want my real parents back, my mum, my dad, I want my home again, not this hell hole I should supposed to be calling that!'' It was she was almost crying in her homesickness that lasted for already eleven years.

Her husband sighed while he grabbed gently his wife's hand and spoke. "Dear, please, your family won't come back. But maybe we can become part of your family. Victoria, my wife and I were thinking... To make it easier to make contact with each other and just get used to each other, why don't you call me..." he cleared his throat, while he lightly squeezed in his diffidently her hand and she knew her husband was on the inside screaming for help in this utterly painful and awkward situation for both parties. "Dad and Katherine your mum?-"

Victoria let out a chuckle, almost laughing mockingly and standoffishly, before she faced them cold again, not even trying to be nice, to show some respect, some reverence, to bond herself to her and her husband. "You'll never become my parents and I'll never call your wife 'mum', either you, my 'dad'. Never, because I have a family and they live. One day I'll have a family, one day I'll be happy again."

She lifted her chin in her undiminished dignity like she wore an invisible crown.

Katherine had already become scared this girl had lost everything in her life that she cherished. The couple was blown away by her way of speaking. She spoke like a woman, not like a child, a teen. Michael opened his mouth and she saw her husband was about to say something to light up the atmosphere as well the mood. "Well, let's eat something-"

"I am not hungry," Victoria interrupted him groaning. Katherine now saw she was chewing on chewing gum, now moving her jaws more. "Well, where's my room?" she asked resolutely as well cheeky, while she again grabbed her green suitcase, which was as green as her eyes. Her mint green chewing gum bubble popped, before she chewed bored again.

"Follow me." Katherine smiled softly, trying to understand her eh... daughter? Victoria indeed followed her -not willingly- while they made their way through the luxurious apartment and she saw in the corner of her eye how Victoria observed the rooms.

_"I want ballet lessons,"_ she heard Victoria saying behind her out of nowhere.

Katherine turned her head over her shoulder and spoke. "Oh Veronique, it costs too much effort and look at all the hazards of the sport! Thereby, it's asking so much discipline of you and my husband and I have absolutely no time for that!" she spoke with a light chuckle, trying to be positive and nice.

"But you _have_ time for an adoption child,'' Victoria shot cockily back while she raised impudently an eyebrow at her in her mocking amusement, dissing her foster mum with no pardon.

''By the way, it's Victoria; use Veronique when you want to bitch at me. Thank you,'' she added snarky in a matter-of-fact tone.

''Anyway thank you for showing me around in this _cosy house_,'' the girl speaking sarcastically as she used 'house' instead of 'home', ''but I'm now going to enjoy a thing called loneliness and depression. _Bye!_'' and with these words she slammed the door in Katherine's face, as the girl rolled her eyes into the back of her head.

Shut out, and door closed.

Five perfect words to describe this girl with.

**END PART I**

**CHAPTER XVI PART II: awkward discoveries**

**JACK**

When Katherine had told everything there fell a silence for a few seconds. Hans had in the meantime closed his MacBook to listen to the conversation. "Is it true that Michael hit her once?" Jack asked out of nowhere, cocking in question but also resolutely an eyebrow at Katherine before he sipped some of his coffee.

She sighed wistfully and averted her gaze for a second before speaking. "Michael and Victoria haven't matched from moment one. Michael was just very tired and stressed at the moment when it happened," Katherine said softly, not giving them a good reason for her husband's behaviour. ''We're just all a bit stressed lately. A lot has happened… not just with Victoria but also with the relation of Michael and me.''

"You must know that hitting a child like Victoria who had to cope with a lot in her life reacts different and more sensitive than other teens, Katherine," Hans said incisively in a severe tone.

"I know, but it was an accident," Katherine mumbled softly, defending her husband while she blushed a bit in her embarrassment.

"Hans?" Katherine began.

Hans looked up, nodding. "Could you pick Victoria up at her psychologist at West Avenue again? I have a high tea in fifteen minutes," Katherine frowned while looking at her watch. Michael and Katherine had almost no time for their adoption child and it was also clear Hans was besides Michael's financial advisor also a very good friend of the family.

"Maybe a strange question but my husband and I just left a golden bracelet of Victoria for repair at that nice Mr. Lucardiss, the jeweller of the shop Pure. It has been repaired and now it's ready for pick up. I wondered if maybe you could go, so Victoria immediately has her bracelet back? She's very attached to it for some reason. From her biological parents or so," Katherine shrugged while she grabbed a note block out of her bag and a ballpoint to scribble the address down.

"To Mr. Lucardiss at Ninth Avenue huh? That shop Pure? With Victoria?" Hans asked as he frowned seriously.

"Eh yes?" Katherine shrugged with an acid smile while she shoved a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

The colour drained away out of Hans' face to Elsa's dismay and question, before he cleared his throat and spoke again, business-like and seriously. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now; I have an other appointment but otherwise I would've done it immediately," Hans excused himself and with these words he raised from his chair to put his MacBook in his leather computer bag and he zipped the zipper of it.

"Jack and I are willing to pick her up," Elsa suggested. She tried to take every possible chance to meet Victoria. She saw in the corner of her eye how Jack rolled with his eyes, like he could read her thoughts.

"Of course, I'll immediately give you the address of her psychologist," Katherine spoke while she revealed her phone. Elsa and Jack moved their heads to each other, nodding in response.

If they only they knew what drama was coming up.

Elsa stepped out of their black Porsche car since they'd arrived at the psychologist of Victoria. She leaned with her back against the closed car door, waiting for the teen to exit the building.

Elsa thought she was about to wait here for hours, but at that exact moment she saw how Victoria walked out of the building and she looked up when she saw the private detective of her parents. Elsa waved with a devious smile, while simultaneously wiggling with her eyebrows. Victoria rolled consecutively in a miffed way her eyes when she saw Elsa.

"What are you doing here and where is Hans?" Victoria demanded resolutely, while walking towards Elsa. It was clear Hans always picked her up from the psychologist lately. She had to raise her voice a bit to overpower the sound of the busy traffic of New York with the sound of passing-by yellow cabs and talking tourists to be heard in the background. Elsa opened the door of the car and it was clear Victoria already understood that Elsa and Jack were picking her up now, so she stepped begrudgingly in.

"Hey _sweetie_, we're back," Jack waved fake with a devious bittersweet smile, before turning himself in his drivers seat to look at Victoria. Victoria flashed a mortifying glare at him in answer when she heard the sarcasm in his voice.

Elsa stepped into the car and parted her lips to speak. "Picks Hans you up more often then?" she asked frowning, also a bit curiously. Jack automatically put the key in the ignition, turned it a quarter and drove away to drive the car into the right lane, the man joining the boisterous traffic of New York now.

"Oh yeah, since Michael and Katherine always need to neglect me by celebrating their perfectly disgusting lives without me," Victoria scoffed mockingly, staring out of her car window at one of the many busy avenues of New York.

"Well Victoria, Michael and Katherine asked if we could pick your bracelet up at the jeweller.'' Elsa spoke, while she looked in the rear view mirror to stare at the sulking teenager.

The stubborn teen ignored her.

"Why are you so attached to your bracelet?" Jack asked cheekily, while he turned himself in Victoria's direction since they'd stopped in front of a traffic light. It was clear Jack wasn't afraid of her at all, instead of Elsa sometimes.

"That's not your business," Victoria hissed standoffishly and bitchy at him. It was clear Mrs. Bipolar wasn't a fan of him as well.

"Okay, okay!" Jack sighed dramatically 'offended' while he threw his hands in the air in a way of 'I surrender'. He didn't interfere himself with her anymore and that was exactly what he murmured almost unintelligibly after he'd turned around.

"Jack, hands on the steering wheel," Elsa warned him, since Jack had lately a bad habit, which was called driving hands-free-while-fixing-my-hair. "How was the appointment at the psychologist?" Elsa asked gently to Victoria. She looked in her rear view mirror at Victoria who was sitting in the backseat with crossed arms while she looked impassively out of the car window.

She shrugged silently, not really impressed either interested. ''I didn't talk to her as always; I just shut my mouth. It's so fun to see how it irritates her when I simply ignore her the whole session," Victoria said in almost a sadistic and atrocious tone that could be described as nothing more but ruthless. "Nobody can help me and I don't want to be helped," she spoke softly.

"And when we go to Mr. Lucardis you are going with us, because I have no need in a depressive impassive death glare of you when we step in the car again when we got your bracelet back," Jack warned, while he looked strictly in his rear view mirror at the sulking teenager in the backseat that had her arms still impassively crossed.

"You're not my father," Victoria shot back with crossed arms, while cocking challengingly an eyebrow upwards before sticking her tongue out at him for a moment.

"And thank god, I'm glad I'm not," Jack hissed snarky and resolutely back with a sigh in relief that he didn't have to raise this piece of_ wild weed_ that grew in every direction but the direction you'd expect it to grow to. Victoria stuck her tongue out at him once again and Jack did the same in response as he looked in the rear view mirror. Elsa giggled when she saw how the two were almost starting a new World War edition number III.

Sooner yet later they arrived at the shop Pure, and to Elsa's surprise it was the same jeweller where they'd bought their wedding rings.

Victoria stepped -to Elsa and Jack's surprise- out of the car, instead of staying impassively in it with crossed arms. They entered the shop, while a soft bell greeted them and again just like the previous time they'd been here, the old jeweller came out of the back building. Victoria leaned with her back against the front door of the shop, not taking a step forward anymore where Elsa and Jack had walked further.

"Hello! How can I help yo-" the jeweller, also known as Mr. Lucardiss, looked up. "Oh hello, Mr. and Mrs. Frost!" This guy did what he said; he really remembered all people who'd ever bought something at him. "I hope you enjoy your ring so far! If there are any problems I can take it back! But if you are here for another bracelet or a ring I will help you,'' he offered friendly and helpfully, while he walked behind the counter, his eyes staring friendly through his glasses.

"Oh no, we are eh very happy with the ring! We came here to pick the bracelet up of Victoria," Elsa smiled, while she turned herself to the teen who was now whatsapping with someone so they couldn't see her face; her red hair was falling in front of it, as she bended her head.

Elsa noticed that she always had her mobile with her. Or she was listening music and wore earplugs to seclude herself from the outside world, or Mrs. Popular was whatsapping, but whatever she did, the girl was always to be found with her iPhone in her hand.

"Victoria, put that thing away," Jack sighed authoritatively like he was her father, but all Victoria did was sticking her tongue out at him for the third time this day, giving him a challenging look. Jack hissed heartedly, but Elsa laid her hand upon his wrist as a sign that he had to stop playing daddy for her.

"It was the reservation of the family Smith," Elsa said friendly, while she laid her hand on Jack's, which was now lying on the counter. Jack took her hand in his, stroking it with his thumb and a pleasant shiver ran down her spine.

''You know the Smith's?" Mr. Lucardis asked with a nice smile, while he ducked under the counter to grab a note book out of it and when he opened it, Elsa saw it was the thing where all the reservations were written down in. He croaked the name 'Smith' through before he looked up to Elsa with his warm blue eyes to face her in pending. He put his glasses off and laid them in the corner of the counter.

"Yes, we are good friends." Elsa lied with a flawlessly.

"Oh of course! I see you have their daughter, Victoria, with them I assume. Anyway, I've already moved the bracelet to the counter here, so I don't have to duck into the back building," Mr. Lucardis chuckled with a wink, while he moved his hand to a velvet box and when he opened it, Elsa as well Jack's mouth dropped.

The bracelet was made out of gold and there was '_Victoria, superbiae nostrae' _engraved in it in Latin. Mr. Lucardis grabbed his glasses on the edge of the counter and placed them on his nose, before he read out loud what was engraved in it. "_Victoria, our pride_." He turned it around and now there stood _'concipiuntur ex amore'_ "_Conceived out of love,_" he smiled while he turned his head to Victoria, who also looked up for a few seconds when she heard his words, but the girl was too busy with whatsapping.

She walked towards Mr. Lucardis, still whatsapping with her face bended to the screen while she asked absently. "I've always wondered what it meant."

"Well, it's a beautiful bracelet so be parsimonious with it," Mr. Lucardis smiled friendly, while he shoved it to the end of the counter.

Victoria extended her hand, grabbed the bracelet, while mumbling something that looked like a soft 'thank you', before her eyes darted up to look in the man's face, but as soon as their eyes met, Mr. Lucardis covered his mouth, gasped in outrage and his eyes widened in shock. "The green eyes..." he mumbled while he almost dove towards Victoria, but Victoria didn't know how fast to take a step back; she wasn't a fan of people when they invaded her personal space and she cocked an eyebrow up at him in suspicion, her eyes filling with question.

"Your emerald green eyes... I remember them, the red hair, I- I can't believe this, you have been here once when you were four-years-old! Y-you're the girl that was in the fire!" he almost exclaimed in shock. Elsa saw how the tears emerged in his eyes; it was clear he was agitated as well flurried by her story, since the aghast was to be read in his blue eyes. ''Risen from out of the ashes like a phoenix there you are!''

Victoria's eyes widened before she narrowed them in defence. "How do you know me? And I can't remember anything of that! I have never been here!-"

"Yes you are," Mr. Lucardis almost squeaked, the man still in shock, while he walked behind the counter towards Victoria. "Is it true you're an orphan now? And I'm interested in what has happened after the fire. Have you found your father back? Has he returned?"

Victoria's eyes widened again and it looked like she didn't know how to handle the situation. She blinked a few times in question with her big green peridot coloured eyes, not understanding what was happening, before her lips parted. "I-I... What do you mean returned? And yes, I'm orphan, but how do you know this of me? I don't know you!" she said in defence, almost being paranoid, while she lifted her chin a bit, as the redhead's gaze was filled with relentless valour.

Mr. Lucardis snickered to Elsa's surprise and smiled friendly at her while he looked in her eyes, although Victoria narrowed hers when he laid his hands on her shoulders. She immediately shoved the jeweller's hands mockingly off them, before giving the nice man a death glare in a way of 'I'm not your poor little girl'. "Your smile has changed, and your behaviour... But you've still got the same combative shimmering in your eyes after all those years. You have that from your father."

Victoria took distance from Mr. Lucardis, almost coiling backwards in the shock that flooded her mind, the colour draining away from her face, before she pulled herself together and she raised her voice, while speaking. "Stop telling me shit I don't have the need to know! I don't know who my father is, I don't know why he has left me, but I don't understand it, because this bracelet is from my biological parents. I don't know anything and no one here is telling me the truth, no one treats me like a grown up, only like a poor little orphan girl and sentences like 'o my God that's so sad' I am done with it! I want to know who I am! That I have the eyes of my father, well I don't fucking care! My father can rot in hell if it's true what you're telling me. My father can fuck off, die, but I won't shed a tear! I am done with this, I am done with my entire fucking life!" Victoria yelled with a hoarse voice, the girl filled with emotions she couldn't place, and she was becoming an emotional roller coaster again.

She threw the beautiful golden bracelet on the ground and stepped on it, so it broke before she ran consecutively out of the shop, while the tears out of her ran down her cheeks.

"Victoria!" Jack said strictly on a warning tone, before he ran out of the shop to get her back. Elsa knew Jack would make short shrift with her, because he swept the floor with hardcore teenagers like her.

Elsa was left in the shop. The jeweller's eyes hadn't even widened; he wasn't dumbfounded. Nothing. He wanted to bend to pick up the bracelet, but Elsa didn't want him to get hurt with his back because he was pretty old, so she almost dove to the ground to pick it up from him.

Elsa looked at it and the bracelet was indeed beautiful with its golden shimmer, the engravings, and the aura it radiated. When she observed the piece of gold, she again remembered the meanings of the two Latin engravings. It was clear Victoria was loved; she was the pride of her parents and she had been conceived out of love, so Elsa didn't understand what's happened and why it has happened that she was in this horrible situation now.

"I'm so sorry, sir. She has a Bipolar Disorder and she has a lot manic episodes the last time," Elsa apologised softly with a frown, while she bit her under lip and cast her eyes down.

"It's alright, it's alright." Mr. Lucardis sighed friendly, while he scratched the back of his head. "If you want to I can repair it again. I'll do it for free," Mr. Lucardis offered friendly, while Elsa handed the golden bracelet over to him.

"Thank you so much. Well, I think I'll search for my husband and Victoria then. Thank you for your time," she smiled politely and she wanted to open the door of Mr. Lucardis' shop, Pure, again, but the jeweller mumbled something out of nowhere, while he stared forward, his friendly eyes now glassy, his gaze empty and it looked like he was under trance. She'd never seen such thing in her life ever before.

"The paths of two stories will collide; be careful miss. And the only medicine for a child with a Bipolar Disorder is love," Mr. Lucardis mumbled like he was under trance after he snapped back to present and before she could answer or blink with her eyes, he'd disappeared in the back building.

Elsa was blown away by his words and especially the last part echoed in her head.

'_The only medicine for a child with a Bipolar Disorder is love'_

That was it:

Victoria needed _love_.


	18. Chapter XVII A kiss for a heartbeat

**IF YOU NOTICE ANY AGE CHANGES IN VICTORIA'S OR OLIVER'S CHARACTER, I'M SORRY. **

**VICTORIA IS SIXTEEN**

**OLIVER SEVENTEEN**

**I'M CURRENTLY FIXING IT. **

**THE SAME RULES FOR THE NAME CHANGES LIKE ELOISE -WHO'S ELSA- WHAT CAN OCCUR. THE SAME RULES FOR LEWIS= MICHAEL. I'M REALLY SORRY**

**CHAPTER XVII: A kiss for a heartbeat**

**ELSA**

**(A/N) Song: Be My Baby, Ariana Grande **

_(intro)_

Elsa woke the next morning again up in Jack's arms and peculiarly, it happened more and more often she caught herself on spooning up against him, although Jack also did it lately with her. It felt just so good to lay in someone's arms, feeling the warmth of them, like they were protecting her, feeling the steady and soft breathing in her neck and having the feeling that someone is laying against you just made it more intimate, while he moved in endearment with his hands over her arms, while she was laying in his.

_If you know how to be my lover Maybe you can be my baby Hold me close under the covers Kiss me boy and drive me crazy_

She inhaled deeply through her nose, feeling the light breeze flowing over her and Jack, since Jack had opened the window yesterday evening to get some fresh air. It looked like they were sleeping outside under a starry sky, while the Moon guarded over them. If she closed her eyes, she really had that idea and before she knew it, she almost dreamed away in the thought, until Jack suddenly pulled his arms back, rolled over to his side of the bed, since she was laying on the right side, before he raised from it. She began chattering teeth because his muscular arms were so soft, warm and they felt safe.

_Be my, be my, be my Be my, be my baby Be my, be my, be my baby, And drive me crazy_

She raised from the bed as well, yawned consecutively before rubbing her eyes. She felt how every muscle was stretched when she stretched herself and her spine out and God, it felt good in the morning for her feeling. The next second she immediately hugged herself to keep herself warm, but she miserably failed; Jack's arms were ten thousand times better. "Jack, what are you doing?" She asked sleepy, while she turned herself towards him. "I'm cold now, why did you leave me?" She asked a bit dramatically on a soft sulking tone.

_If you know how to treat me  
You know how to touch me  
Baby then you'll get the chance  
The chance to love me  
It's obvious I want to be into you  
But it all depends on all the things you do  
'Cause babe I promise, I promise  
If you keep it real with me  
Be honest, be honest  
You can get anything you want  
That you want babe  
Just show me everything I need to see  
I'll give you anything boy_

Jack was in the meantime already putting on his pants; he hopped on one foot through the room to get his left foot in them, while he almost fell but it was too adorable see him like this with his bed hair, striking blue eyes filled with aggravation, but she saw and knew he was giggling as well, but before she could conceal it, a rambunctious giggle escaped her lips. She immediately covered confoundedly her mouth with her hand with a mumble that had to be a 'sorry', but of course it was totally unintelligible. Jack looked up, cocked incisively an eyebrow at her in a way of 'are you laughing at me?' on a magisterial way, but he was done with acting and in seconds they both giggled while Elsa sighed in relief.

"I see you can't miss the arms of _Super Jack_?" He asked vivaciously while smirking cunningly. He must've noticed the goose bumps on her arm. Elsa stroked flattered, but at the same time shyly a strand of hair behind her ear, a blush spreading across the woman's cheeks.

"What are the plans for today?" Jack asked business-like, while he buttoned the buttons of his suit. So to see he didn't know what to do for today but she knew exactly what she was going to do.

Elsa smiled a bit cunning before she parted her lips to speak. "Yes, I want to go to Victoria-"

_If you know how to be my lover  
Maybe you can be my baby  
Hold me close under the covers  
Kiss me boy and drive me crazy_

"Oh no Elsa, we are not going to that devil's child again." He said warning and authoritative. Elsa raised an eyebrow now she saw how dominant he became. "After I found her in an alley when she ran away from the jeweller, I pushed her against the wall with her shoulder blades, I put my hand over her mouth and you know what she did huh?! The kid _bit_ me!" He complained with a puppy face.

She wanted to protest, but he interrupted her.

_Be my, be my, be my  
Be my, be my baby  
Be my, be my, be my  
Baby, and drive me crazy_

"No, let her be. It's just Victoria and we are spending more time lately with that ruthless teen who has got nothing to do with this case than that we speak with Oliver, Pitch, or Hans. Victoria has nothing more to share with us than a hiss, a glare, detached body language, and sometimes I see a cunning shimmer in her eyes and damn I'm sure I've seen it before." Jack sighed determined, while he fumbled with his fingers over his under lip.

_I'll give you all of my trust  
If you don't mess this up  
You ain' tryna get no other girls  
When you in the club  
All you got is eyes for me  
I'm the only girl you see_

Elsa nodded affirmatively, while she walked towards their closet to search for clothes. "Okay... I won't do it." She mumbled, but it was almost unintelligible, while Jack tried to get desperately eye contact with her to give her a incisively, but most of all authoritative penetrating gaze that she would obey him and do what she'd promised him, but in vain. In the meantime, Elsa was shoving all her clothes on their clothes hangers to the side, bored searching for something wearable.

_So if you treat me right just the way that I want you  
Oh baby boy I promise that I'll be on you  
Oh oh oh oh oh on you  
Night to the mo-oh-oh-oh-oh-orning_

"Let's make some breakfast." Jack sighed while he bit is lip as well ran through his messy 'argenté' hair, which made him look even more seductive and attractive, before he turned around and walked out of their bedroom to the kitchen.

Elsa watched him leaving and when he was out of sight, she threw herself onto their bed, crawled to Jack's side, which was cold since they'd slept together spooned up against each other on her side this past night, and grabbed his mobile which laid on his bed stand to get the number of the Smith's. She asked herself what his code could be. She tried, but his phone vibrated that it was wrong, while the screen buzzed as it buzzed a few seconds

_If you know how to be my lover  
Maybe you can be my baby  
Hold me close under the covers  
Kiss me boy and drive me crazy_

A rambunctious groan escaped the pursed lips of the agent in irritation, before she bit her lip and threw herself on her bed, falling with her head in his pillow, immediately turning around to inhale the 'Jack Frost' scent. The scent filled her nostrils and the love her veins, mind and thought driving crazy. She hugged the pillow and crawled up into a ball, almost pretending the pillow was Jack, but she then remembered she had business to do, before Jack would come back.

_Be my, be my, be my  
Be my, be my baby  
Be my, be my, be my  
Baby, and drive me crazy_

Suddenly, she knew it. A stroke of genius struck her like lightning; Four times zero! She grabbed his mobile, tried it and it worked. A devious giggle escaped her lips when she realized she could do everything with his phone and look on every single app and thing he has had on it. She giggled like a schoolgirl when she opened his photo app, wanting to know what kind of photos where in his gallery. Okay she had to admit it, maybe this was violating privacy rights, but it was just for innocent purposes, she spoke to herself to cover her guilt feeling up.

_I'll give you all of my trust  
If you don't mess this up  
You ain' tryna get no other girls  
When you in the club  
All you got is eyes for me  
I'm the only girl you see_

She scrolled all his six hundred photos down and all she saw were..._Selfies._ She rolled playfully with her eyes when she saw her 'husband' taking photos of himself. On the beach, in his home and so on. She was overpowered by her curiousity and wanted to know _everything _of him. He was living in a penthouse, and she recognized it as Santa Monica Beach, because the view was dazzling when she saw a photo-again with his, in the agent's eyes, handsome face on it-.

She scrolled down and her eyes widened in shock, cheeks becoming burning hot, when she saw he had taken pictures of _her_ and My God, he'd made a screenshot of her Facebook and Instagram photos and put them in his _gallery_. Oh hell no, this could be all but good, hopefully. She tapped on a photo and 'zoomed' in with her scrutiny gaze to see herself with disgust. Why would he save photos of her? To see her being ugly? She asked herself. She frowned in disgust when she saw another photo of herself and this time he had made one of her on a staff party they had approximately six months ago after they first saw each other in person after hearing all kind of heroic stories in the workplace about each other.

_If you know how to be my lover  
Maybe you can be my baby  
Hold me close under the covers  
Kiss me boy and drive me crazy_

_Be my, be my, be my  
Be my, be my baby_

She bit her lip when she realized Jack must've taken photos of her when she didn't know it and he was officially violating privacy rules! 'Not that you aren't doing that right now.' A voice in her voice scoffed with a mocking smirk. Okay... The voice was right. No, she wouldn't stop, she said quickly to herself. She scrolled down and she almost got a heart attack. Her eyes widened when she saw he had taken a photo of her, sleeping, makeup less, in his arms, totally in dreamland, while one of her hands were laying upon his abs in her sleep but he wore no shirt so that made it even more embarrassing. She felt how her cheeks became warmer. Jack had made a selfie of himself with her, smiling brightly while it was God-knows what the time was. She almost melted when she saw his cute expression, his seductive and playful bed hair, while he'd pulled her close to him.

_Be my, be my, be my Baby, and drive me crazy_

Actually, it was pretty cute and Jack himself was also on his most simple; he looked tired, but still smiled, while he was shirtless. The two-one sleeping- were laying between the wrinkled sheets which were twisted around her and Jack. She smiled and slowly dreamed away when she remembered his arms around her, how he'd once kissed her on her cheek when they went shopping, how he kissed her passionately at Victoria's birthday party.

She got back to present, her head bouncing up, realizing why she'd actually grabbed his mobile. She decided to skip the part to check his history on Internet, because she didn't have enough time. She opened his contacts app and searched for Michael and Katherine. She scrolled down and found it soon. She rolled over to her side to grab her mobile and inserted the phone number in her contacts.

While she was inserting the number, she suddenly saw the door opened of the bedroom. She looked up and saw how Jack was standing in the doorway, but his eyes widened when he saw her with _his_ mobile in _her_ greedy hands.

"Elsa, what are you doing with my phone?" Jack asked suspiciously and to her astonishment, pretty calm, while he approached her.

Elsa muffled the phone quickly away under the sheets, but he'd already seen it. "Come Elsa, give me my phone!" Jack spoke authoritative and strict. He made a 'hand in' gesture with his hand, while he was still approaching Elsa and the bed. Elsa giggled and first wanted to play games with him, but then realized it was better to just hand it in.

"Thank you, now what were your plans with my phone?" He asked suspiciously while his penetrating gaze tried to find an answer in her blue eyes, but she'd learned how to close her body language. She tried to keep the blood in her face that made her blush on level, but it was hard.

"J-just curiousity." Elsa lied shrugging. "You know I really like your eh phone, with the black but did you know there's also space grey? I was like wow and-" Elsa was telling in full enthusiasm her story and experience with an innocent look although she noticed she was using her hands a lot and that her voice got high-pitched, but then Jack interrupted her.

"Elsa, you are terrible at lying." Jack said mischievous with a chuckle, before he winked at her to then walk out of their bedroom.

She sighed and felt relieved when he left soon after that with an immaculate wink. That was close, but her plan was clear.

She was about to go to Victoria anyway.

An hour later,she knocked on the front door of the Smith's, as the knock echoed through the corridor where she was standing in, but the direct second later Michael opened the door while Hans followed him, both wearing their suits, holding their computer bags in their hands. It was clear they were off for business to the Federal Reserve Bank. Michael as well Hans looked up and they planted a surprised expression on their faces when they saw Elsa.

"Eh hi, is Victoria at home?" She asked nonchalantly, while biting for a swift second her lip in pending, while she glanced at the two businessmen in front of her.

"Eh of course, she is in her room, as always." Mrs. Smith said politely, but Elsa heard he made a groan in the last part of his sentence. It was clear Victoria and Michael weren't a match just like Katherine said yesterday to Jack and her. "Oh you're alone at home then with Victoria, I hope you'll survive." Michael winked before Elsa nodded, stepped in the apartment and Michael and Hans left.

She closed the front door of the apartment and she looked up when she heard singing. It was clear, lucid, completely on tone and absolutely mesmerizing. It had to be Victoria and Elsa was blown away with her beautiful singing voice. Would she have it from her mother or father?

Elsa walked further in the luxurious apartment to the bedroom of Victoria. She glanced with her blue eyes through the split of the door, seeing the teen standing in her room while she sang.

**(A/N) here's the link for the song and people, IMPORTANT! Here you SEE Victoria in the video. The girl who sings it looks EXACTLY like her! She had the main role in a musical 'Dreamflight' and she'll come back in the future with a reprise! Also with a video how she looks then! search for 'Ik ben er niet omroep brabant' in youtube and click on the first video! BTW this is live! Again, you can see her in this video!**

**If you want to know how her voice sounds in English, search for 'Vajèn van den Bosch colours of the wind' in youtube! It's so beautiful! Even more beautiful than this song and to be honest it's even better than the original! **

_En weer zo'n dag en weer zo'n goedmaakzoen_

_And again such a day and a make up kiss_

_xx_

_Waarna ze toch wel doen, wat ze zelf willen_

_After they still do what they want._

Victoria sang on a scoffing tone and Elsa knew she was singing about Michael and Katherine. Elsa asked herself if she was a lot alone at home. Maybe she was, maybe not but it was clear she felt alone and neglected.

_Na weer zo'n dag, die al van vroeg tot laat_

_And again such a day, that is going from morning to evening_

_xx_

_Over hun hobby's gaat, zoals schreeuwen en gillen_

_about their hobbies, like yelling and screaming at their employees_

Elsa smiled softly and could just conceal a snicker when she heard the line, because Victoria was right. Michael was a strict and demanding boss who knew what he want.

_Hey, zijn dat nou echt mijn ouders die twee_

_Hey, are these two now really my parents?_

_Xx_

_Ze zeggen van wel, maar ik heb geen idee_

_They say that they do, but I have no idea_

_xx_

_Zijn jullie maar druk met je leven_

_You two are so busy with your own selfish lives_

_xx_

_Ik doe even niet meer mee_

_Well, I quit and don't play the game along anymore_

Victoria sang with disgust in her tone while her voice still so pure, whole and perfect in tone when she swiped with it and Elsa was blown away when she heard this pureness in her voice, that was almost hypnotizing. She knew Victoria could sing much higher than this.

_Ik ben er niet, als ik m'n ogen sluit_

_I don't exist, when I close my eyes_

_xx_

_Maakt het me niets meer uit_

_I don't care anymore_

_xx_

_Laat ze maar zeuren,_

_Let them just whine,_

Victoria sighed wistfully, while Elsa saw how she hugged herself and closed her eyes. Her red hair fell in front of her face, while Elsa saw in a swift second a tear ran down her cheek.

ik ben er niet

I don't exist

xx

Niemand merkt toch verschil

Nobody will notice the difference

Victoria sang, while she wiped the tears off her cheeks with her cheeks, but the tears kept on flowing down her cheek and Elsa felt compassion for her. She was so beautiful and she didn't know all the boys turned their heads when they saw her beautiful red hair and her hypnotizing green eyes.

Hou ik me doof en stil, kan mij niets gebeuren

I keep myself deaf and quiet, so nobody hurts me

xx

Mij best. Het werkt in huis, op straat en in de klas

I don't care, it works at home, on the street and in classes

xx

Soms lijkt het wel of niemand mij echt kent

Sometimes it looks like no one really knows me

The tears were flowing down her cheeks, while some fell on the ground and she didn't even care to wipe them away with her sleeve while her hands were resting next to her long slender legs and she clenched her fists.

Als iemand moet gepest, dan zoekt de rest me pas

If someone has to be snubbed, only then they search for me

xx

Ik heb wel één talent, da's net doen of het went

I've got one talent, that's pretending like I'm used to it

Elsa knew Victoria acted like she didn't care, like she was always like this, a cold bitch, but underneath her was a fragile little girl, but she just had to open herself up.

Ik ben er niet, als ik me goed verstop

I don't exist, when I hide well

xx

Deur dicht en iPod op, tot ik verdwijn

Door closed and iPod on, till I disappear

Elsa lowered to the ground and leaned with her back against the wall while she listened to the teen where she had gotten so much respect for the past time. Victoria was lonely, felt lonely and ignored, rejected, neglected, while she was actually screaming at the top of her lungs for help and no one even looked up.

Ik ben er niet, of ik word knettergek

I don't exist, or I'll become crazy

xx

Ergens is vast een plek waar ik wel wil zijn

I hope somewhere's a place, where I do want to be

Victoria plopped down on her bed and buried her face in her hands, while her shoulders jolted and she let out a sob. Elsa raised and tip toed towards the door, before she softly knocked. Victoria looked surprised up when she heard the sound. Her eyes widened and she quickly wiped her tears away with her sleeve, while her green eyes were filled with curiousity, but she saw how Victoria also built quickly her mental wall around herself again, so if it was someone who she didn't like was about to get a glare.

Elsa opened the door and stepped inside. She closed her eyes firmly, ready to get a yell and a snap thrown at her, but it was_ silent_. Elsa opened one eye and then slowly the other one when Victoria still sat on her bed, leaning against the headboard with her back while she curled herself up with her legs pulled up, not moving while her green eyes were filled with curiousity and a strand of her red hair fell in front of her face.

She looked cute.

Elsa observed the girl and she suddenly saw the beauty she'd kept in all the time, now her green eyes were full with tranquillity and peace. And she was just _calm_?! Bree barked happily and ran towards Elsa, tail wagging. Elsa smiled, while she lowered to the ground and hugged her and she licked her face off. Elsa giggled.

"Victoria, you can sing beautiful." Elsa began in her astonishment, while she walked towards the teen and stood next to her bed.

Victoria glanced up at Elsa, raising an eyebrow; checking if it wasn't sarcasm, but then she smiled softly. She smiled! Victoria was actually smiling and it was genuine, a thing that touched her. "Thank you." She said softly, while she stroked a lock of her light auburn hair out of her face.

"May I sit next to you?" Elsa asked cautiously, still a bit on guard for her behaviour and when Victoria nodded, she sat down on the bed, next to her. Victoria was fumbling with her nails, and she stared somehow confoundedly down at her lap. Maybe she was ashamed Elsa had heard her singing, but Elsa couldn't understand why she would feel embarrassed, since this girl had the voice of an angel, sweet as ambrosia and rough as a diamond. Bree jumped on the bed, sat on Elsa's lap and she curled herself up to sleep.

"You spied on me.'' She mumbled softly.

''That's my work, _Dear_.'' Elsa chuckled sarcastically on a matter-of-fact tone, but actually she was bloody serious. Luckily Victoria saw it as a silly joke.

It was silent and Victoria sighed a bit, doing an attempt at peeling the white nail polish neurotically off her nails, her red hair falling again in front of her face and Elsa stared at it as she asked herself why red hair was so damn beautiful. She bet it was super soft. ''Why are you here?" Victoria asked cheekily and she turned her head towards Elsa, her eyes filled with scrutiny that tried to find the motive behind Elsa's surprise visit.

'Good question, now you are going to explain you can't let her go for your feeling, that she's constantly returning back in your dreams, mind and thought, and that she's special and different, no that's not weird at all.' A voice in her head rattled sarcastic. "Because I want to get you to know better." Elsa said softly with a shrug. "I know you are hiding your true self behind the detached behaviour. But, why are you so calm now? Have you taken your medicines?" Elsa asked now also being cheeky and mischievous.

Victoria giggled and Elsa's heart filled itself with warmth and love. "No, I'm not always like 'that'. That's when I have a manic episode in my bipolarity and yes I've taken my medicines. Not willingly, but… yes." She said softly while averting her head, biting her lip. "I have quite often the last time a manic episode." She added mumbling, and she stared consecutively down at her lap, and Elsa just felt her aura that resembled almost shame.

''You can't do anything about it, don't blame yourself.''

''Yes, I know, but I'm doing it constantly! I have it from my dad and I just… I just hate it! I can't control myself, I can't express myself, my mind just fills with anger and incomprehension. There is nothing left of the real me and I feel like a monster when I get a manic episode. Why the fuck did he want children or a child, since I don't have any sisters or brothers as far as I know, when he knew I could get his damned, stupid, hideous, fucking annoying Bipolar Disorder?! It's like he's out of mind! He can fall dead for me, I mean it, Elsa. Who can call himself a father when you're so irresponsible to put your house on fire with your child still in it, give your daughter a Bipolar Disorder, and just being a dick to the whole world!'' Victoria had never spoken so openly her mind in a private conversation.

''Put your house on fire, while you were still in it?!'' Elsa spoke in astonishment. She stared at Victoria, but she couldn't find any fire burns either scars on her body. She was as untouched as white power snow. Talking about white as snow, that was the colour her face had apparently. It was a girl with almost no colour; she was pure, natural and pale, but it soothed her.

''Yes. That's what everybody tells me.'' Victoria groaned as she narrowed her eyes. ''I feel so….so trapped. Trapped in my own world, my own heart. It's like I'm every single day of my life in a labyrinth! Always I walk into a dead-end then I have to turn around and hope to find a better path, but I always end up being lost, and from time to time I'm paranoid, scared, angry and disorientated at the same time and then, then it's getting scary. No. I'm getting scary.''

"Do you talk to someone about your feelings and what you feel and do?" Elsa asked softly on a timid tone. She felt a bit obnoxious and hoped she wouldn't mind all the questions. She was such a person that was apprehensive that Victoria would think she was bothering her.

"Yes... With eh... It's just I don't know I trust him..." Victoria mumbled, still not calling a name and Elsa observed the teen and it was clear Victoria didn't know if it was weird to say. "It's Hans." She spoke and she moved her head towards Elsa who was quite shocked now. What Hans told her was true; he talks a lot with her. "I know he is the financial advisor and best friend of my foster parents, but I can laugh with him and I can ask him anything. He always explains everything with a smile. Like really everything from why the sky is blue, how the Pythagorean theorem works, what it is, and he tells me just everything I want to know. No single question is weird, stupid or obnoxious. He learns me cool tricks with my homework like maths where he is very good at and even just stupid funny things, like how to throw an M&amp;M in the air and catching it with your mouth." Victoria laughed exuberantly, while she smiled brightly. ''He's crazy, but cool. Thereby, he never whines about my behaviour and doesn't ask this empty question 'how was your day?' 'cause if you know me, every day is a hell as long that I haven't found my parents back.''

Elsa smiled too when she heard the story and how Victoria talked about him was exactly the warm man where everyone first always talked about. A big _past tense. _

"Victoria, I... I don't know whether I should ask it, but do you remember something of your dad, your mum, your past?" Elsa asked out of the blue resolute, while she stared incisively at Victoria, trying to make sure she heard her question and was not acting coherent. Victoria had deep eye contact and her eyes were still a bit shimmering in suspicion but they weren't mean, cold or detached luckily.

Victoria sighed and she stared down at her lap, before she stared at the wall for a long time. She then closed her eyes, probably trying to get memories back. Violent memories, which were cutting painful wounds open. "I have a photo of my mum and me on the beach, yes I remember her. I remember her soft voice, the way she could make me calm if I had a manic episode when I was little; she would then always sing for me, although my dad was the best at it, keeping me calm during a manic episode. My mother had my hair. She was so sweet, so filled with love and I... I loved her." Victoria spoke softly still with her eyes closed, while a tear still escaped her eye.

"And my dad, I... I just don't know anymore. It's all a blur of memories and I've had so many homes-"

"How many till you came here?" Elsa asked kind of interrupting her.

"This? This is my eighth." Victoria sighed with hidden groan in her voice. "But I shall continue about my dad. He was a warm person, I could always giggle with him and if I had a nightmare, he wrapped his arms around me and then I fell safely asleep i-in h-his ar-arms." Victoria whispered while she was crying now on the end of her sentence and tear after tear ran down her cheek. Tears full will grief, despair, and sadness. Elsa felt compassion for her and she slowly moved her hand to Victoria's shoulder to lay it upon them, still a bit on guard for if her behaviour would switch in one swift second for no reason to be to a manic episode, something that was very characteristic for a bipolar person.

"He was is also bipolar and that was exactly why we were such a match. I don't have clear memories but I knew, I felt that he understood me. But eventually, he has just left me and I don't know why, I really don't know, Elsa!" Victoria whispered in her indistinctness while she bit in despondence her lip.

"And about..." Elsa sighed and she spoke, just deciding to say it. "Victoria, I am sure you were the girl in the shooting and maybe it's an odd question and forgive me if I am invading your personal problems now, but do you remember a-"

"Shooting?" Victoria ended scoffing with a cheeky shimmer in her eyes. "Yes. I remember a gunshot, I remember how-"

"Victoria, you are now bringing flashbacks back and I really advise you to tell everything like it's happening now; In the present; like you're in the very middle of it. It may be very confronting, but you have to, if you ever want to cope with it, a thing from which I know you didn't." Elsa said determined and a bit penetrating, but she comprehended it if Victoria didn't want it.

Victoria nodded softly, closed her eyes and after a silence she began to talk. "I'm at home, in my real home. My dad has put me for some reason in a special hidden closet with my mum, like he knows what will happen... I don't... I don't know. Someone is wrapping its arms around me. I feel safe for a moment and I think it is my mum. She is scared and hugs me tighter, while I softly wail in apprehensiveness. I hear muffled voices. It's my dad talking to a stranger. I don't know what they say but it's clear my dad is begging, pleading not to harm anyone, although it looks like that." Victoria spoke softly and on a calm tone, but Elsa knew the emotions were almost washing her over like a tsunami.

"You are doing very well, could you continue please?" Elsa asked politely, while she cocked slightly her head to the left to hear every part of the story.

"Suddenly, the door of the closet well you know what I mean, is being roughly jerked open. A man is standing in front of my mum and me. He is all in black; his hair is black, his skin tone almost ashen grey, only his eyes are yellowish on an amber-like way."

Elsa's eyes widened when she heard it. Pitch Black. Pitch has killed the mother of Victoria. Pitch was behind this and worst of all, it was the father of the son where she had a relation with. No, this was not true, she intentioned. Victoria already had to deal with Pitch and Elsa already knew Victoria was lucky she had survived the shooting, but the agent also knew that if Victoria would come for the second in contact time with Pitch, it would be her end. Problem was, Pitch was also involved in the case of Michael and Katherine. She knew he didn't steal the money just to get 'money', he probably stole it for another purpose. Maybe it was related to Victoria, maybe to other things. She asked herself if maybe he had a purpose for this and they should've already seen hints.

"My mother trembles and she is begging and pleading for some reason that he won't shoot me, but before I can do a thing, the man pulls the trigger and with one yell of my father and one sob of me, my mother... M-my mot-mother is bei-being shot a-and s-she isn-isn't mo-moving any-anymore." Victoria sobbed heartbroken, her voice was raspy and hoarse, while Elsa laid a hand on her knee which was still pulled up, and Victoria curled herself up in apprehension and agony, still leaning against the headboard and her head rested on her knees.

"The man... He grabs me tightly by my arm while I feel how he treats me, like I'm an animal, nothing. He leads me to another room and I have to leave my mother, while my dad is sitting on his knees, crying about my mum, but he raises and runs in panic to the man and me, begging him not to shoot me as well. But then... Then I feel how the cold metal weapon is being set to the side of my head." Victoria spoke on a trembled tone, while she was trembling like there was no tomorrow.

"It's a gun. He wan-wants t-to k-kill me." Victoria whispered in panic, while she closed firmly her eyes. "My father... He begs him not to shoot me. He collapses on the floor with his knees while it looks like he cries. The rest is a blur. My father and the man... they talk and then out of nothing, I am being jerked into my father's arms. He gives me one last kiss and then lays me in bed. Soon I sleep, but then out of nothing I feel warmth, I can't breathe, I can't think, only of the intoxicating air around me. There is a fire and it's enclosing me. The heat is excruciating and I can't breathe. I yell for dad, for my mum while I cry and scream but no one comes. Later on, someone runs into my room and takes me with him, outside. He saves me and if he'd come five minutes later, I would've been burned alive." Victoria spoke softly while she casted her eyes down and didn't look at Elsa. ''I don't know who it was, it must've been a fire fighter.''

Elsa covered her mouth in shock before moving her hands to her neck to lay one hand upon her collarbone. "And after that?" Elsa asked softly while her voice was hoarse and raspy.

"And after that? Huh, I am an orphan, I was being sent to a foster family in San Francisco, but I changed they said. I had more and more manic episodes, had PTSD about the event, I was always crying for my parents in the night and they always drew their own children. It was always the same song: 'Yeah we have two children and oh yeah we have one adopted child.' Always, I am pushed aside, but they still say 'We treat you like one of our own children' 'we love you' but in the end it's always an empty promise and I am sick of it."

"But this is your eighth family. What's happened to you Victoria?" Elsa asked concerned.

She sighed wistfully before she spoke. "Argh, I... I just... You know I am bipolar and I just want someone who loves me, who cares about me. I don't want to give people love, afraid I'll never get it back and I'm just not a cuddle person. I only want one from someone when I know he or she cares about me.''

It was silent, but after half a minute of silence, Victoria broke the lacuna again to fill it with talk. ''All those years I thought, 'wow I finally have a home, I have parents'. But then... Then they divorced, or got a baby and there was no place for me anymore, and I wasn't the easiest child to raise, so that's how I've been sent from family to family. Rich, poor, from East coast to West coast, from one high school to the other one, from one misery into the other and all I want now, is to be free as soon as possible. I want to know who I am and where my mother is, my father." She spoke on a wise tone. It had again that certain maturity in it and Elsa was blown away.

"You'll find them one day Victoria. Maybe not today, maybe even in a few years, but it can also be in two months, one week, you never know." Elsa smiled softly, trying to comfort her.

Victoria was silent, nodded a bit while she stared at her lap and didn't move. Elsa slowly moved her hand to her sleeve and carefully pulled it up, so she could see her cuts, and to her contempt they were still fresh, as it has gotten worse. "You're right." Victoria mumbled almost unintelligible while she sighed. "I cut myself."

"Since when?" Elsa asked softly and cautiously.

"Since three months but it's just getting worse, as you see. I need the pain, I want to see the blood and if my cuts are itchy I have to scratch them open, again for the pain." Victoria almost whispered, while it was clear she almost didn't dare to tell it.

"Do you talk about it with... Hans?" She asked nonchalantly with the brevity in her voice.

"About that I cut myself? No, and my past also not, although he seems to know that I have a violent past. Sometimes I talk about all the families I've been to, but he would immediately tell everything to Michael and Katherine if I told him everything." Victoria chuckled with mock, while her green eyes were penetratingly obtrusive and a dark that was almost a deterrent shimmer appeared in it, so the shivers again ran down Elsa's back.

"I see you're a lot alone at home." Elsa spoke thoughtfully, while she bit her under lip, before turning her head towards Victoria again.

Victoria nodded softly, while she caring grazed with her hand through the little white curls of Bree's hair. "Michael and Katherine are never at home; are too busy with their own selfish lives, let me rot here, don't see I need someone to share things with and get my trust, instead of appearing in my life without a warning, pretending like they are my parents and expecting I will love them and admire them. They're complete strangers that only took me in because they can't get kids by themselves for God's sake." Victoria spoke with scoff before letting out a heartedly groan full with hate in it, clenching her fists slightly now.

"How do you know that?"

"If they could, they would've already had kids, right?! Pretty obvious. And now they think I'm their little Baby Born doll which they can drag everywhere with them, as they are literally behaving themselves just like kids do: If they have enough of the parenting, they just think they can turn me 'off' like such a thing as a Baby Born doll as a result that they expect from me that I'll shut my mouth when they want me to do so, so they can continue their own life. And frankly it's happening more and more often that they think they can just turn the 'power off' button in of parenting." She hissed coldly.

"Why do you think that?" Elsa asked business-like, while she also caressed through Bree's curls. Victoria took great care of her and she could see the bond between the two.

"You want examples? _'Yeah Veronique_-in important cases they always call me by my second name- _is so independent and wise she'll take care of herself' 'Vero, tonight you're home alone, the frozen pizza lays in the freezer'_ huh, like I'm not sick of it after eating pizza for the third time in a week. Katherine has seriously made a food schedule for me when I eat what if they are gone. She buys all those super expensive freezer meals and if I have to eat one more I go nuts. Hans, he can make such good food! When I'm at him, he always makes something I like and he can cook so well! Anyway, believe it or not, but it's always the same food on the same day if Michael and Katherine are gone. If they are gone on a Monday it's always salmon and spinach, on Thursday, red cabbage and some meat, Wednesday, Tuesday and Friday is always 'The frozen pizza lays in the freezer'.'' Victoria was sticking her finger in her throat like she was gagging. ''But lately, I'm always dropped at Hans.''

''Why don't you learn to cook then?''

''Huh, you see me being a kitchen princess?'' She scoffed with a mocking chuckle.

''But, what do they say more?''

Victoria put on a high-pitched tone and began to imitate Katherine and Michael. '_''Veronique, we are off to dinner with friends, we'll drop you at Hans so you can rot away there' 'Veronique, did you take your medicines today?'_ I'm so sick of that damn question..._'Veronique don't be such a rebel, come out of your room __now__, Veronique you are impracticable, Veronique you are so detached be nicer, Veronique leave this room so I don't have to see this piece of shit in my eyes that isn't even my real daughter, Veronique call us your parents'_ Veronique this, Veronique that! I am so sick of it, I'm sick of them, I'm sick of my life!" Victoria groaned and hissed with all the hate she could find in her heart for Michael and Katherine. ''My name is Victoria and not Veronique. If they just stop using it so much…''

"Did they really say that? Like 'Veronique or well… Victoria leave this room so I don't have to see this piece of shit in my eyes that isn't even my real daughter'?" Elsa asked frowning.

"No, but it's on that tone. I just hate school, I hate my parents, I hate my whole life." She sighed wistfully, before she blinked with her eyes, so a tear fell down, now oddly onto her snow-white dwarf Poodle that was sleeping on her lap.

"Thank you for Bree, Elsa. I am really happy with her." Victoria smiled brightly while her eyes became warmer with the second towards her. "And Jack also of course." She added mumbling. Before Elsa could answer in a 'you're welcome' Victoria again spoke. "Elsa? About Jack... Actually he can be pretty nice, right?" Victoria asked softly, while she hugged Bree as she smiled at the little white bundle of curls.

Elsa let out a chuckle and a rambunctious giggle. "Oh Jack, yeah... But he can also be very cocky, never forget that. And sometimes he's a bit full of himself, but yeah... You have to live with it." Elsa sighed with a playful roll of her eyes.

"But... He can be nice, right?" Victoria asked curiously and Elsa asked herself why she was suddenly so interested in Jack.

"Yeah... He's nice." Elsa mumbled absent. ''I honestly didn't think I would get a smooth conversation with you; you're a bit cold to me. But sorry about that I pushed you against the wall, intimidated you, put my nails in your cuts, and was just a total bitch when I discovered it all.'' Elsa apologised sighing, now casting her eyes down.

Victoria chuckled a bit. ''It's alright. Elsa, we're not in elementary school anymore, either Kindergarten, and we don't ask courtship anymore, either friendship, but… you're actually a cooler person than I thought you would be. You know the words 'listen' and 'silent' are spelled with the same words and I appreciate that. Can we just, I don't know…'' She trailed off and began over new again. ''I don't have any real friend. I mean I have a whole Victoria fan club at my school and I'm Queen Bee,'' Elsa laughed and Victoria giggled. ''but all my friends are just friends and not real friends. You know all those girls are fun to talk with, but I miss the intimate thing where you can tell someone anything to and they'll never look weird up or tell anything to other people. Hans is already such a friend of me, but you're a woman and that's still different.''

''Victoria, it's alright. Ask me.''

''Okay… Want to be friends?'' She asked with a high-pitched voice, while she bit simultaneously her under lip. ''This is a moment where you should feel privileged to hear this, since I'm not the girl to come to you and show interest.'' She warned Elsa serious, but somehow she was giggling.

Elsa smiled warmly. ''Yeah… I feel privileged, that's for sure and yes, I'd like to be friends with you. You're a cool person. Behind that mental wall, but still.'' She looked on her watch. "I have to go. Stay strong." Elsa smiled at Victoria, while she laid her hand on Victoria's shoulder.

Victoria looked up and her green eyes were filled with desperation and a look that said 'don't go?' "Do you have to go? Please stay." Victoria almost begged with drooping shoulders and she stared wistfully at her lap, while a strand of her auburn hair fell in front of her face.

"You'll be fine, Victoria. I see you in two weeks, I guess." Elsa said on an incentivizing tone while she carefully stroked a lock of red hair out of her face, behind her ear.

Victoria smiled softly in gratitude, while she looked up and Elsa had the idea she saw the four-year-old toddler again sitting on the beach with her mum with the stars in her mesmerizing green eyes. She wanted to bring this Victoria back and help her. And now even more after she'd heard her background story.

Elsa said goodbye, they exchanged phone numbers and sooner yet later, she arrived at her apartment. She walked onto the corridor of her apartment and just when she pulled her keys out of her bag to open the front door, it was being opened by Jack, while his face looked everything but happy. She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a second, ready to be snubbed.

"Yes, _Mrs. Frost_ and where did you go to?" Jack said resolutely, while he crossed his arms and cocked his eyebrow on the typical 'Jack Frost' way. She bit her lip because she actually didn't want that he was mad upon her.

"I-I eh... I just got grocery shopping?" She almost asked stumbling over her words while she pointed to the door, smiling watery and she felt she furiously blushed in her lie.

''I'm interested where the groceries are then.''

It remained silent and her talent for improvising let her cold this time as it looked like it became a drying oasis. Jack rolled with his eyes, before he shot her a last death glare and turned around to walk away to God-knows-where actually in her eyes. "Jack wait!" She begged while she followed him and so to see he walked towards their bedroom. "I mean, please don't be mad-"

"Because you've lied to me and still went to Victoria?!" He hissed while he roughly turned around. His eyes were penetrating, cold and Elsa had the idea she looked into the eyes of a dominant man, while she had to obey. This was so Jack, not Jackson.

"That's not true! You are lying!" Elsa defended herself, while raising her voice and now she decided walk into the bedroom. Jack was standing in front of the window while he stared outside, aimlessly to one point with his hands placed in his pockets.

Jack groaned heartedly and he yelled while he roughly turned his head towards her. "And now you have to stop! There is only one here who's lying and that's _you_, Elsa!" He yelled in is rage while it was clear he was also sick of her and her lies. She felt tears coming up and she bit her lip. "You were at the Smith's with that fucking Victoria and then you said..." He stopped talking and his voice died away while he averted his gaze from her like he was considering whether he would say it or not. "And on the last..."

She wondered how he could know all what she and Victoria have said. Then she realized he must've eavesdropped with Bree's collar that had the recorder. "Yes what?" Elsa asked with valour while she lifted boldly her chin, trying to not let her anxiety show.

"I have no time for these games." He hissed coldly and penetrating while looking incisively at her and he again turned around to ignore her.

Elsa sighed with irritation and before she thought she blurted out. "Say it when you are such a man!" There fell a taciturn silence and it was nerving while it felt almost wistfully. Elsa felt so much; she couldn't describe it, but most of all, she felt apprehensive for the words he was about to spill about her or what she'd said about him.

He turned around and looked straight into her eyes. "And at last, you said that I was cocky and that you just had to live with it." Jack spoke softly while he stared incisively at her with a cold penetrating voice. She almost didn't dare to look in his eyes and felt caught. She blushed furiously and averted her gaze from him. She asked herself why he was so bothering himself about this. He was Jack Frost, the guy who didn't care about all that right? Or that was what she had to believe. She sighed and bit her lip in despondence, while she stared wistfully down at the floor, not knowing what to do or say.

"I'm sorry Jack, that wasn't nice of me to say-"

"And I also can't believe you wanted to talk to Victoria. It looks like this girl is possessing you with her gaze, because since we've met her you are constantly talking about her, putting your nose in her business while we have a case to solve-"

"_She_ is the case, Jack! Pitch is the one who has killed her mother and almost her. Now he is the father of her boyfriend and there is a big chance that when Victoria had to give the code to Oliver of the safe, he immediately gave it to Pitch. And I think you don't understand a damn fuck of Victoria." Elsa hissed coldly, protecting her, relentlessly trying to be on her side, while not giving up on her point of view.

"I understand more of Victoria than of you, Elsa." He groaned with crossed arms, while he'd already turned his back again to her to stare out of the big window of their bedroom, the light shrouding him, so it almost looked fairy tale like, but it was everything except for that now.

Elsa was silent and casted her eyes down, searching for the proper words to say. "You're mad." She almost concluded, ascertaining it when she saw his expression, while tenaciously trying to get eye contact with him, but in vain.

Jack turned himself finally to her and he opened his mouth to again speak while he raised his voice with mock. "Of course I'm mad! You protect her, while she isn't as holy and sweet as she acts! You are talking behind my back and go to the Smith's even when I clearly said 'no'. Elsa, you have lack on communication with me and you are just doing what _you_ want, what_ you_ think and you are so willful. Please, how can I manage to handle you like this?" He almost asked, while he turned himself towards her. His eyes were full with sorrow and worry and it looked like said this because he cared about her.

Elsa felt tears welling up and before she knew it, she was emotional so unsteady the tears already ran down her cheeks. He was right, he was right about everything. Her shoulder jolted uncontrollably while she buried her face in her hands. "I-I'm so so-sorry J-Jack. I r-really just... I-I did-didn't know how or why, b-but I-I ju-just had to g-go to Victoria because I-I am wo-worried about her." She sobbed heartbreakingly and it almost looked like she acted like a mother who was worried about her own child.

**JACK:**

He was standing there, helpless like a total idiot, not knowing whether to say something or not while he saw how Elsa, the woman he loved, broke in front of him. Like she was made out of porcelain, falling on the ground in thousand pieces. She had almost a manic episode and he asked himself more and more if she maybe had a light disorder.

Before he could speak, his heart did and he walked towards her to hug her tightly. He couldn't be mad upon her, not at all. Elsa may be a personality, but he snubbed a bit too much at her for his feeling. He bit his lip and he soon felt the trembling Elsa in his arms while he kissed her on the crown of her head.

"I am sorry too, Elsa." He mumbled whispering in her hair, which felt so soft and it smelled very good, so tremendously, excruciatingly tempting and pleasurable in the agent's opinion. It was so fresh, light and he couldn't describe how many flashbacks ran into his mind when he smelled her perfume mixed with the scent of her shampoo, because after all those years she still wore the same.

"I just want to protect you, that Pitch will harm you, Elsa. Both of us if we aren't cautious. I don't want to think of what he is going to do if you are getting trapped in his lies or pitfalls. You can't trust anyone. Remember who the real enemy is, because I... I don't want to loose you." He ended softly, confessing, while he casted his eyes down. He heard how his voice was raspy and hoarse and he had for one moment the idea that he was again a thirteen-year-old boy that was about to get the beard in the throat, and that, that was awkward.

"I-I don't want to loose you too." She smiled softly, while their eyes met and he felt how the butterflies were almost exploding in his stomach into a vortex of a thousand ones, her eyes even more beautiful than a blue lagoon, while he could drown in her endless depths. She buried her face in his chest, while hugging him. He wrapped his arms around her, while he loved it when they had physical contact. The touch of her body against his gave him uncontrollable shiver he adored. He gave her a quick mollified kiss on the crown of her head.

She looked surprised up, while he had the idea he kissed with all the love he felt for her. It was getting stronger, stronger than when he was a teen, when they were young. Back then his love for her was nothing more than just a light vortex where he twisted within, while the butterflies flattered around him, no, now the love was like a hurricane which was raging on the inside of his tummy. "I..." He began and he almost blurted his best-kept secret for her out with these three words that could've ruined everything. What if she didn't love him back was the thing where he was afraid of.

Elsa looked surprised up when he blurted the 'I' and the 'l' from love almost out. "Yes?" She asked friendly and her smile was vivacious again, while he softly and carefully wiped the salty tear of her soft cheek.

"No." He said and he again averted his head from her, while he felt how he blushed furiously.

"O-Okay." She stammered while she also averted her head as well her gaze from him. There fell a taciturn silence and both were not capable of speaking, both scared they would say something stupid. He had an idea and smiled immediately. He picked her up out of nowhere, bridal style with one arm supporting her legs, other her back, while Elsa let out a yell, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck, as he walked back to the living room and put her on the couch.

She opened her mouth to protest in almost her shock, while she smiled playfully. "Jack what are you-" He shushed her and she blushed furiously and smiled shyly while she stroke quickly a strand of hair out of her sight. He smiled brightly with mischief when he saw her sitting with her innocent and beautiful smile on the couch. He took a blanket out of the basket next to the fireplace across the couch, with the TV above it and laid over her, walked to the kitchen to get a lighter, then to the fireplace and lighted it.

''You heckler.'' She giggled as Jack laughed. She crawled up into a ball, blushing flattered while it looked like she was almost too shy to look at him. His mind went crazy with all kinds of ideas, but he put all the cliché things away-if that was possible-, walked towards the cooler, opened the door, took a bottle of wine out of it and served it in two wine glasses which he grabbed from out of the cupboard. ''No way.'' She laughed. ''If you are trying to make a super romantic scene here, you need to do a lot, to make me blush!'' She laughed.

He walked towards her and gave her one glass with a devious and seductive wink. Cheeks turned pink and before they knew it, they both laughed. ''I win.'' Jack giggled. He sat next to her on the couch, while Elsa crawled up next to him and looked into her wine glass before playing around with it so a vortex arose. Her head was laying on his chest and he carefully caressed through her hair, while he stared love struck at her. He stroked a strand of hair behind her ear, softly and full with care while he cherished this moment of peace with the woman he was loving more than anything else. After three years he finally felt the feeling of love again and it was the best feeling he had ever known.

''Is this your sorry?'' She laughed softly, while she rolled playfully with her eyes.

''Yes. This is a moment where you say 'Jack, you are my everything' and then begin to cry out of happiness.'' He joked chuckling as Elsa rolled playfully with her eyes.

''You're crazy.''

''What about you, Vintre?'' Jack laughed back. There was a silence after that, and for some minutes the two were just enjoying the feeling of each other's bodies, the cracking of the fireplace and the warmth it gave, the pungent taste of wine, as Elsa laid her head on his chest, exhaling softly.

"I hear your heart." She whispered softly, while he saw how she closed her eyes.

He bended to her ear and whispered huskily in it with a playful undertone. "A good thing I hope?"

Elsa giggled softly while it was almost raspy. She was a temptress, his inamorata, his Aphrodite and he wanted to show it to her, by kissing her, feeling her and he hoped one day maybe she wanted to take her clothes off for him, so they could make love. If he was allowed to have those thoughts… "Yeah, a really good thing." She whispered back, while looking up to meet his eyes. Hers were filled with softness and he stared in the eyes of Elizabeth, not Elsa. In the eyes of little, vulnerable and sweet Elizabeth. He didn't know if he'd fallen in love with Elsa Winters or Elizabeth of Arendelle, but what he did know was that he had a marvellous weakness for both persons.

"I like it when I hear someone heart beating; it's very... Soothing." She whispered softly while closing her eyes, to hear it.

Jack didn't know whether to speak or not since she was enjoying to hear the pounding of his heart that was pounding for her, but then he spoke. "I understand. As a kid I always wanted to hear the heartbeat of my mother. It gave me a certainty, I don't know." He whispered blurting out, not even thinking of what he exactly wanted to say. "But it's actually the stupidest thing I have ever said." He added quickly to beat his nerdy and total drop-dead boring sentence, while he mumbled it so quickly and softly it was almost unintelligible and inaudible. He tried to pull himself together and so she wouldn't think he was a loser.

"No. No, it's not Jack." She now said instead of whispering with a thoughtful tone in it, while their eyes met again. She had to stop smiling at him because he had the idea he got a little heart attack every time she did it, it would always make his heart skip a beat, and now her ear was laying upon his chest, so this didn't make the situation particularly better. "My mother always said... it gives you the idea someone cares about you, I mean, that you have the idea that heart is beating for you." She almost whispered, while he could hear the insecurity in her voice. She was clearly nervous what he would think about this phrase.

"That's a beautiful thought. And I think your mother is right." He smiled back, trying to comfort her that it wasn't a stupid thing to say because he liked the idea.

She looked up and stared out of the window next to the dining table in the same open room. "Look Jack, it's snowing." She smiled. He looked outside and saw how several frosty snowflakes like rough diamonds whirled from the grey heavens, delicate and fragile as crystal and pure as Mother Nature herself. It was November but Jack still had the idea it was a bit early for snow. "Yeah." He whispered smiling while he stared at the little playful frost particles that fell upon Manhattan, to cover it with a thin layer of soft powder-like snow.

"I love the snow." She sighed dreamily while laying her head on his chest, again to hear his heartbeat.

'And I love you.' He wanted to say, but he didn't dare to for some reason. He wasn't sure if she was thinking the same about him. They had to sit in one apartment, in one bed for four more months, now actually three and if she didn't like him back on the way of 'being in love' this was going to be a hard and awkward time.

He just hoped he wasn't involved in some cheesy 'skinny love' plight, because if he had to hear she'd loved him all the time back, he was not surviving it.

They sat there in silence, sighing satisfied, relaxing a bit, drinking wine, listening to the cracking of the fire place on the background and both smiled in jocundity and for him love at each other before Elsa parted her soft peach coloured lips to speak. "Don't you miss your family? I mean celebrating Thanksgiving that's in a week all alone" She asked curiously while she laid her hand upon his chest and trailed down with her hand down his stomach, but stopped there, probably to not give him weird ideas but he didn't mind.

"Yes, of course I miss my family, but I'm not alone." He spoke with a mischievous shrug hinting on her, before he amusedly sipped some of his wine.

"No?" She asked surprised looking up, while her head bounced up to look in his eyes with an unwritten look planted on her face.

"No. You're here. With me." He looked deep into her eyes, almost to drown in her dark depths with the endless ocean in it she owned in them hat could made you feel like you were looking in a blue lagoon that was filled with life. He had never felt something like this for a woman, had never felt so much love for someone, even not for the woman he'd left previously from a few years back. He was drunk in love. Drunk in love because of her eyes, her hair, her beautiful curves, her-

Thoughts were interrupted and his eyes shut open in utter shock and astonishment when he felt her soft lips were pressing upon his, before softly grazing over his, almost naughty like and playfully like they were playing a fun game. A game with no rules, let your heart speak and do everything you want.

**(A/N) Song: talking body from Tove Lo.**

His eyes widened, but then relaxed. She liked him He didn't know it for sure, since when you kiss someone doesn't mean you particularly like someone. In high school if you kiss someone it's shocking, and 'O My God he has to be in love with you and now you're a couple' but when you are a grown up, a kiss with or without tongue is just... Just a kiss, although he could yell out of happiness right now.

_Bed, stay in bed  
The feeling of your skin locked in my head  
Smoke, smoke me broke  
I don't care I'm down for what you want_

Elsa snaked her hands around his neck, to slowly and seductively move her hands upwards to cup affectionate and tenderly his cheeks, while their lips moved in sync, both trying to keep up with the rough and passionate pace it was going.

_Day drunk into the night  
Wanna keep you here  
Cause you dry my tears  
Yeah, summer lovin' and fights  
How it is for us  
And it's all because_

He bit seductively her lip, begging for entrance, to feel her in every way, to feel her body pressed upon his, feeling her tongue grazing over his. Elsa first quickly grazed her tongue over his lip before granting him entrance and the next second, their tongues met for a long passionate kiss, while they were moving over each other like an unexplained dance, feeling each other while Elsa softly moaned when he moved his hands to place them on her hip before slowly moving them up her body, while he threw her backwards on the couch to lay on top of her, so their bodies moved slowly and lovingly over each other so the shivers ran down his spine in pleasure.

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

He was so busy with feeling her, her tongue over his, keeping up with the pace of their tongues, mouths going in sync, being in love her, her affectionate moan almost passed him, but he felt even more excited when he heard it because, God there was no better sound than a genuine moan full with passion and affection in it. He loved it to pleasure her. It was quite ironic. He was kissing with his previously best friend when they were little, and here they were, ending up as secret agents, were now a 'married couple' and they were laying on the couch on top of each other like total idiots that were high as fuck because of the love that they felt which they used as a drug that hung in the air.

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

They broke apart, too soon for his feeling although their kiss was long, passionate and lustful but he needed more. Right now, but before he could kiss her back, Elsa casted her eyes down and averted her head from him, not daring to give him a glance. She whispered hoarse and raspy. "I'm sorry, I mean-"

He shushed her. ''Don't say anything, Princess. Just... Just feel me." He whispered while placing softly a finger on her lips. The lips he adored so much, too much actually. Jack looked deep her eyes and he caught himself on staring in them again, while drowning in her depths but he hoped she was his life buoy to safe him. The only sound that was to be heard was the cracking of the fireplace in the background. He bended again but now very slowly, just like Elsa. He looked at her well-formed lips, waiting to be kissed. They almost never broke their eye contact, until his lips touched hers. He felt how the electricity ran through his body, while Elsa ran lustful through his hair.

_Love, give me love  
Anything you want I'll give it up  
Lips, lips I kiss  
Bite me while I taste your fingertips_

Only she could give him this feeling. Their lips moved in sync again, while he felt he was so warm and his heart was pounding hard in his chest and oddly, it almost looked like Elsa knew it, since she unbuttoned the upper buttons of his white blouse and took off the jacket of his suit. He secretly wanted her to go further, but he knew Elsa was still too closed for that and you had to do a lot so she was willing to take her clothes off for you and that was exactly what made him so eager and desperate and why he was liking her so much. She had rules, was mysterious and gave everything away of her in bits and parts.

_Day drunk into the night  
Wanna keep you here  
Cause you dry my tears  
Yeah, summer lovin' and fights  
How it is for us  
And it's all because_

All the woman of the ISA, agents who were of course his colleagues were so easy to catch; one flirt, wink, dance, invite to his apartment and the job was done. One-night stand number two-hundred-thirty-six was for him a night filled with harmless fun. He always called it 'mission accomplished'. Once again, he thought it was harmless fun, although the woman he'd slept with, thought he meant something with it, Huh, even the word 'something' was so vague and they were all so naive it was almost boring to play the game 'have-a-one-night-stand-with-Jack-Frost'.

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

He smelled her perfume again when their lips had broken apart from each other, while his trailed to her jaw, to give her first tenderly kisses down her neck, to her collarbone, before tenderly sucking on her sensitive skin so the shivers would run down her spine in pleasure, before they turned slowly into passionate, seductive love bites although he knew she was about to have hickey the next morning but he had so much desire for her, wanted to mark dominantly she was his and no one else, so he continued.

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

Elsa's head tilted back, as well as her back, while he could almost_ hear_ her rolling her eyes in utter pleasure and she moaned softly before placing her hand behind his head, to pull him closer to the sensitive side of her neck. He knew it could be quite embarrassing if someone could see your love bite marks in public, since it was sometimes seen as a sign of sexuality, so people took the conclusion you had sex last night, but if he was gentle enough and if he would make them on the side of her neck, where her long hair would cover it, she would survive it and she could use a good concealer to cover up the dark spots that would arise in approximately ten minutes.

_Bodies  
Our baby making bodies we just use for fun  
Bodies  
Let's use them up til every little piece is gone  
(Let's go)  
On and on and on  
(Let's go)  
On and on  
(Let's go)_

They were so lost in their moment of pleasuring each other they both forgot the time, while he already saw how the gates of heaven were opening itself for him. Elsa cupped his cheek in her soft hand. His affectionate and passionate lustful love bites replaced for tender soft kisses down her neckline, to cover up the sensitive feeling in her neck that was sometimes experienced as pain with love bites. It seemed like Elsa got the message and she relaxed totally now, being chained in his spell, locked to his eyes, his game, his power, while she pushed herself against him, tilting her head a bit to the left, to expose her neck so he could reach every single part of it.

He tenderly gave her hundreds of kisses down her neck, onto the places where he passionately but most of all carefully love-bit her, on a way to say 'sorry' if it might've hurt her, while Elsa's breathing got heavier and sometimes a hoarse and raspy moan escaped her lips, while he asked himself how it was possible Little Jackie was still down. He moved up again to give her one last gentle kiss, while his lips tingled from the sudden action they'd gotten in the past eight minutes, before breaking apart to again stare in her blue eyes, to smirk irresistible.

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

"You make your status true after I heard all these... Interesting stories about you in the workplace." She whispered giggling back, before running through his hair. She still laid under him and now he realized he was kind of crushing her, but when he wanted to shift his weight off her, she grabbed him dominantly by the collar of his blouse and tie and jerked him back on top of her.

"Like?"

"It only happens rarely you fail in your mission. Bedroom and case." She giggled at him.

"Oh _Honey_, I am sure I won't disappoint you on that aspect of life." He winked playfully and almost emaciated for a new passionate kiss, throttling for her lips.

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

Elsa giggled schoolgirl-like and bended again to place a gentle kiss on his lips, but when she wanted to pull back, he laid in a reflex his hand in her neck, so her lips stayed on his.- Where they belonged for God's sake-.

_Now if we're talking body  
Put it on me  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

Elsa ran through his messy silver hair. He felt this feeling inside of him, he felt so happy and almost light. As a feather... They broke apart very soon, but he lifted her and put her on his lap. Elsa wrapped her legs around his waist as far as possible on a couch. Jack laid his hands upon her back, while he smashed his lips upon hers. Their first kiss was shy and tender, the next one was romantic and passionate, but this was one was just full with lust, almost animal like with a mood of 'I need you now' and no tender sweet words, just fiercely kissing while feeling each other, to full-fill desires like taking off clothes which was now too early for them, although his hands roamed over her body, over her hips, to her breasts, cupping them in his hands, while she pressed himself upon him, chests to chests, so he couldn't cup her breasts now and she moved with her pelvis over his, while he felt a wave of excitement and pleasure filling his lower abandon and he knew that if she was going to continue to do that, added with the moans she gave him, while fiercely kissing him before whispering words in his ear, things were getting too excited _down under._

_Now if we're talking body  
You got a perfect one  
So put it on me  
Swear it won't take you long  
If you love me right  
We fuck for life  
On and on and on_

He realized making out and kissing was much more pleasurable when loved a person. Actually... All the one-night stands added together couldn't give him this feeling of utter euphoria mixed with all the butterflies raging like an uncontrollable vortex in his stomach while he hoped they carried their golden infinity with them. He wanted to treat her like his Aphrodite, his inamorata. And he wanted her to know that.

When they'd broken apart and Jack looked deeply in her eyes, he found the best feeling in it. Love. He was the happiest man on earth. She crawled up again next to him, while he hugged her tightly and after that, they sat for hours cuddling up in front of the crackling fireplace, hoping she was sharing the same love for him as he had for her.


	19. Chapter XVIII periods and movienights

**CHAPTER XVIII: Break your heart right back**

**JACK**

**BEGIN PART I**

It was two weeks later and Jack sat at the dining table, answering mails on his MacBook. At the same time he was multitasking by watching a movie –even though he miserably failed- until he heard a groan escaping Elsa's lips.

He paused his movie and looked up from mailing to look at Elsa who sat on the couch, curled up in her sweatpants. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun. She sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace that was lit so the flames happily danced along on the rhythm of the airstream. She had her arms wrapped around her tummy and he saw somehow pain in her eyes. "Is there something wrong?" he asked worriedly while he curiously raised an eyebrow in concern.

"Nothing," she whispered softly, but he saw the pain was excruciating for her and he knew she wasn't staging it.

"Sure?" he asked suspiciously and he got up from his seat to approach her.

"Y-yes," But she again groaned in pain and a tear escaped her eye. She averted her head like she didn't want him to know she was crying or having this pain. She just tried to perspective it so he would probably leave her alone, but Jack was relentless and determined to find out what was happening.

"Where does it hurt?" he asked curiously, while he sat down on top of the couch leaning, and he turned his head towards her, his messy 'argenté' hair moving with him in his movement and he quickly ran a hand through it, before his hand trailed further down his scalp to scratch the back of his head.

Elsa was silent and she stared down at her tummy as she wiped her tear away with the long sleeve of her sweatshirt. She still didn't look at him. It was clear she was considering whether she should share it with him or not.

"What hurts so much?" he asked again. He tried to make eye contact with her so he could read it in her eyes, since he was determined to find out why she was hissing in pain out of for his idea, nowhere. He asked himself if maybe she had stomach flu. He raised an eyebrow in his indistinction as well ignorance at her.

''My tummy."

"Is it what I think it is?" he smiled softly, and he grabbed her hand to take it in his. It was soft and he gently rubbed her hand with his thumb.

She was silent.

"El, you can say it to me. It's still Jackson under the sturdy Jack," he said in a caring tone. Their eyes finally met, and as soon he got eye contact her gaze said enough for him. He raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I knew it'. There fell a taciturn silence, while he didn't break eye contact with her and he knew it was a bit obnoxious for Elsa, but Jack was waiting for a confession.

"Okay," she confessed softly, while she stared down at her lap. For some reason it felt good she shared it with him, since two months ago the stubborn Elsa had denied and lied about this. _'Character development_, finally,' a mischievous voice sighed in his head.

"Can I do something for you?" he asked gently and he plopped down next to her on the couch. He moved himself in her direction and he immediately felt better, happier, more at ease and his heart made a jump when she was in his presence.

Damn love.

"N-no I don't think so. I'm alright, let me be," she mumbled a bit inaudible. Elsa curled herself up into a ball and she leaned cautiously against him, not knowing if he would accept her. But he already wrapped his arms around her to hug his dear friend, the scent of her hair filling his nostrils and he closed his eyes in bliss before speaking.

They broke apart while he spoke and looked in her blue eyes. "It's not 'alright', Elsa. You have pain, but how is it possible I hadn't noticed anything in your behaviour the last two months?" he moved his head towards her and he poked her slightly to be sure she heard him.

"It's just that sometimes the pain is tougher than the previous months. Sometimes there was no pain and then the month after that I lay for example for a week in my bed, hissing and groaning in pain, while I hope for God's sake I don't have a case at that moment so I can just sleep, watch sentimental cry movies, and eat a bucket of chocolate ice cream," she sighed dramatically and both of them let out a rambunctious giggle after she'd spoken her dramatic words. Elsa laid her head cautiously on his chest, and he immediately hoped it could be like how it had been two weeks ago; the kisses they'd shared, the hugs, the laughing, the smiles. But he hoped besides all that, that he would find an Elsa who talked about her past, talked about what had happened in all the years that they hadn't seen each other.

"Thanks for not laughing at me now," she smiled softly with a grateful look before their eyes met when she moved her head up to actually make eye contact now.

He smiled softly back. "That would be harsh. You know, sometimes I'm cocky but not at moments like this. You should respect women and their monthly PMS," he snickered deviously with an immaculate wink at her. Elsa laughed again and she rolled playfully with her eyes. He felt so happy when he could make her laugh. He'd also always tried to make her laugh back when they had been young.

He kind of wanted to take care of her; he grabbed a blanket and laid it carefully over Elsa, she smiling, before she gave him a quick mischievous and valour look that said 'flirt' with a playful cock of her eyebrows. He sat next to her, while Elsa moved the blanket over him, so they both sat under it. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her for a few seconds, but soon he laid half instinctively his warm hand on her flat tummy to create a warm spot. His hand moved under her shirt, but she didn't seem to mind luckily.

"Well, now you know one thing, you're not pregnant," he snickered softly, half-joking, half-serious.

"Yeah, but it would be weird if I was because I haven't had sex in months," Jack looked up and his eyes shut open when he realised she was about to confess her _bedroom life_.

"Was Dylan good?" he asked spryly. He wanted to know everything of that ex of her, and of course this question belonged to that goal.

An impetuous giggle escaped her lips, while she poked him playfully. "Jack! That's not a proper question and we are not having this conversation at all," she spoke conservative, while complacently lifting her chin, but he just knew she was joking.

"Hey now we're talking about this stuff," he sighed with a devious shrug. She was about to speak about her previous relation and he was convinced he couldn't let it slip away. No, he was about to try to get the jackpot; what Elsa liked in bedroom department. It would be hard, but he was about to try it. She was silent and sighed, searching for words, but then spoke softly. "Everything had to be...fast. The first time we did it, he didn't even made it special, everything was so rushed," she bit her lip.

"Like; bedroom door closed, he threw off your clothes, and in twenty minutes you were done?" he asked with a curious cock of his eyebrows while he bit his under lip for a second, a bit confused as to what she meant.

She nodded. "The weird thing is that when we had sex he never said 'I love you'," she spoke in a soft tone and it was clear it really bothered her.

"Ouch_," _he sang with a sympathetic face.

"That's what sex is about, right? Love…" It almost looked like she asked herself if she wasn't just a naive, stupid, little girl that still believed you needed love to make love. She spoke her sentence with caution, clearly not knowing what he would think of it.

"Kind of, I guess. You know I'm still a man and I would probably lie when I say I don't have one-night stands, as those are about everything except for love, but you are right." He spoke wisely like Jackson always did, but he still made the sturdy 'Jack Frost' shrug to make it sound nonchalant.

Elsa mumbled almost inaudible. "I'm feeling very exposed right now-"

"You still have clothes on, sweetheart_," _

A giggle escaped her lips and she spoke in a strict tone, while moving her head towards him. "I wasn't finished yet, Frost. I mean mentally. Now it's your turn. How's it going in the bedroom department?" she asked deviously with a seductive wiggle of her eyebrows, her blue eyes filled with playfulness.

"Well, at the moment it's pretty 'dispassionate' there, although every night a woman lies next to me," he shrugged apathetically.

"Really?" She asked amusedly, not getting she was that woman. "But you don't have sex with her? I see you are training yourself to behave. Your puppy training is working," she teased, while she stuck her tongue out before then patting him on his head like he was a dog.

He laughed and he made a fist to bite in, snickering a bit before speaking. "If I touch her with 'one finger' I can expect a bitch clap."

"But Jack, how is that possible? Who lays next to you?" she asked confusedly, her eyebrows furrowed.

"How about you?" he said resolutely, while he playfully rolled his eyes at her.

Elsa laughed while mumbling an 'okay, that's true', but then she got serious again. "But I like to know how it was in bedroom department at you before I walked in,'' she spoke, suddenly very interested in her husband's love life.

How ironic.

"Should I be honest?" he asked hesitatingly, while he bit his lip and he sighed a bit. Elsa nodded in response. "Well, actually I've had all the ladies from the ISA, and those are all one-night stands," he confessed with a sigh.

Elsa frowned but then laughed. "I knew it. When I first saw you at the staff party I just knew you were that type of man," she sighed playfully. Again she was fumbling with the buttons of his blouse. She left the upper buttons open. She put her nose in his neck and the shivers ran down his spine because of the close physical contact. He couldn't help but snicker. He didn't know what to answer. Then Elsa spoke out of the blue in a very serious tone when they'd broken apart.

"But you've never found 'the one',''

"Well, actually not. But that's the whole thing. You know it's no problem to get them in bed with me, but the next morning I'm lucky if they stay till breakfast. But I've never actually really felt 'love' for someone when I had one-night stands. It more in the way of 'you're hot, I like you' but there it stopped," he confessed softly with a mumble.

"So you just have sex with women you don't love?" Elsa asked matter-of-factly in a concluding tone.

"Kind of... But now I made a decision. Next time I have sex with someone I love that person to the moon and back. Hard thing is; where is she? I'm twenty-seven and I still haven't found her," he wondered if maybe Elsa could be it, his consort.

"Maybe she's more nearby than you think. Maybe it's the woman who walks in front of you for months but you never realise it. You just don't see it. But then, _bam_! You realise it's her," Elsa spoke wisely with a shrug. He thought about it, and then he realised maybe she was right. He smiled affirmatively. Then there fell a comfortable silence, the two just enjoying each other's presence. He nuzzled with his nose in her hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo.

"You feel better now?" he moved his hand from her tummy.

"No, put it back there!" she snapped, while taking his hand as in a way of almost claiming it, and she placed it back on her tummy again with a content smirk planted on her face.

He laughed. "Okay, but then I have to sit here for hours,"

"I don't mind," she shrugged innocently.

"You just want to torture me," he sighed dramatically, while he simultaneously rolled with his eyes.

"No, I like talking to you," she mumbled a bit while she laid her hand on his, which laid on her tummy. "You are the first man to who I can talk to like this. Talking about these subjects I mean. Dylan was always very closed at moments like this. I shouldn't even begin about cramps. He just always felt too uncomfortable when I began about it,''

"Well some men just don't now how to react or behave…but don't worry; I grew up my whole my life with woman till I got to university, and if I have to believe the stories it's bloody hell. Literally." Elsa burst out in laughter, while she poked him playfully he was truly unbelievable. Jack could only lift the corners of his mouth to reveal a smile when he saw her happy again.

Elsa snickered, but then became serious. "Have you never confronted a woman that she left even before breakfast?"

He decided to just answer her question. "Well actually not, but you know it wasn't the plan she would stay forever; when I asked a woman to come to my home, she and I both knew it was for a one-night stand. 'One-night stand' the word says it. After one night the person leaves and then you and her pretend like it has never happened."

Elsa was silent and frowned, searched for words and then asked a question that had bugged him for a long time. "Why do you do these things? The whole thing about love is gone," Elsa spoke a bit cockily. She moved her head in his direction with a penetrating gaze that was hard and cold.

"Love is the biggest misconception in the world."

"Why would you think that?" Elsa asked confusedly.

"Maybe you think you've found _the guy_, your Prince Charming, but after a few years you discover it was all a big lie, that he is the biggest jerk on earth, he disappoints you, is never there when you need him and just like you and Dylan had; the passion in the bedroom disappears," Jack said matter-of-factly in a 'c'est la vie' tone.

"But, it can also be a fairy tale."

"Love is a nightmare dressed as a daydream. Keep that in mind Elsa. _Always_." He almost warned her for an upcoming heartbreak.

"Have you ever had an experience why you think like this now?" Elsa asked almost like a psychologist while she moved her head to him again, but now her eyes were soft and he could read the question in them.

Jack was silent, but then confessed; "I had a relationship three years ago. We were engaged. She got pregnant even though she knew I didn't want to become a dad yet... I was such a douchebag; I…I've left her," he confessed, after years talking about his previous relation. Flashbacks ran through his mind.

Flashbacks he'd always tried to hide from everybody.

Elsa gasped in outrage and astonishment. "Jack, how could you do that?! But you were engaged, I thought it was pretend to have a family?!" Elsa asked in shock, while the atmosphere went from relaxed to stressed. ''Tell me why, how, what your reaction was… it must've been a shock for you,'' Elsa spoke softly.

''Huh… tell me about it,'' Jack groaned.

**FLASHBACK**

_I shoulda saw it comin'_

_I shoulda saw the signs_

_But I wanted to believe you, trust you_

_You said you wouldn't lie_

He'd arrived home after months of being in New York, solving a case with that had to do with the WHPA, the rival agency of the International Security Agency. Luckily he'd won the case and that was worth a party; he'd stayed at Astrid in her apartment in Stockholm for a week, celebrating his success.

_But baby you were so good, so good_

_You had me goin' blind_

_You said it was your best friend, I'm guessing_

_I wasn't your type_

He opened the front door, grabbed his suitcase where the jacket of his suit lay on and pulled it inside their big house that stood in a quite green suburb that was half an hour removed from San Francisco. He closed the door and yelled in jocundity. "Sweetheart, I'm home!"

_What goes around comes around_

_And if it goes up, it comes down_

_I know you're mad 'cause I found out_

_Want you to feel what I feel right now_

He soon heard footsteps and the door to the living room opened by his fiancée. "Jack you are back!" his fiancée exclaimed happily. She ran towards him and hugged him tightly. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist. He kissed her passionately, while she wrapped her arms around his neck. It felt so good to be reunited with her after all these months lying in a bed without anybody next to him.

_Now that it's over_

_I just wanna break your heart right back_

_Right back_

They broke apart. He saw she cried out of happiness and several tears fell down her cheek. "Hey darling_,_ why are you crying? It's just me," he smiled comforting, while he felt how she clamped herself to him with her arms wrapped around his neck. He ran mollified through her blonde hair in endearment.

_Want you to cry me a river_

_I just wanna break your heart right back_

_All this time, I was blind running round telling everybody_

"No Jack, there has happened something and I need to show it you," a rambunctious giggle escaped her lips. She stood across of him, before she ran through his messy hair and changed his parting before she cupped his cheek. He smiled at her, before giving the love of his life a quick tender kiss on her lips.

_My baby loves me_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby_

_My baby_

_My baby loves me_

"You look cute,dear,'' she giggled with the love in her eyes and she fixed his hair as far as possible before she folded her hands in front of her as she smiled brightly at him.

He laughed. "Cute? Yeah right is that the word for your super future husband who has abs, brains, and is just the sexiest man you know?" he teased with an immaculate devious smile.

_You said I was your best, would be your last_

_Now he's gone, you're alone_

_Don't want you back_

"Beauty and the brains," she again giggled and she quickly kissed him tenderly on his lips back. When they broke apart, Jack spoke in curiousity.

"Now come on, show me what you'd wanted to show me," he laughed with a tempting wink.

_You're tellin' me you're sorry_

_Well sorry, I'm over it_

_'Cause I've already been there done that_

_Ain't doing this again_

_No_

She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bright living room. Pascal, their Labrador, welcomed him. The dog ran towards Jack, jumped up and down before he licked his owner, his tail wagging like an idiot. Oddly, he always licked Jack close to his ears. "Hey boy! How's going? Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" he laughed in jocundity while he patted Pascal on his head, kneeling on the ground, and the big dog threw himself on his back so Jack could pat his stomach.

_What goes around comes around_

_And if it goes up, it comes down_

_I know you're mad 'cause I found out_

_Want you to feel what I feel right now_

"Jack, here," she said with a bright smile and it looked like she couldn't wait to show it to him. He looked up, raised and looked questioning at her. She hid something behind her back. He cocked playfully an eyebrow at her.

She slowly showed her hand, with a pregnancy test in it.

_Now that it's over_

_I just wanna break your heart right back_

_Right back_

_Want you to cry me a river_

_I just wanna break your heart right back_

His eyes widened in shock after what she'd laid it in his hand. He was staring dumbly down at the thing that indicated his future. A little plus, she was positive. A baby.

_All this time, I was blind running round telling everybody_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby_

_My baby_

_My baby loves me_

He stared down, not believing what he saw. He couldn't comprehend how this was possible and she even said it with a mother fucking smile. "What is this?" he groaned coldly and detached while he looked up to face his fiancée. He narrowed his eyes and shot a cold penetrating glare at her to show he wasn't a fan of surprises like this.

He could see she was startled when his reaction wasn't what she hoped it would be. "This is a pregnancy te-"

_My baby loves me_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby_

_My baby_

_My baby loves me_

"I know! I know I'm not stupid! But are you seriously kidding me?! A baby?!" he exclaimed in shock and astonishment while he looked at her now still flat tummy. "How can you be pregnant, you took you birth control pills!" he exclaimed in incomprehension while he raised his voice, and he threw simultaneously roughly the pregnancy test on the table. He was in shock and he wasn't happy at all. Last thing he needed to worry about was a baby, something that made him a dad and he no time and need for that now.

_Listen, you got man but your man ain't loyal_

_Don't understand how to spell it out for ya_

_Yes, I'm a G, from the A, and they ask why_

_Sorry had to tell you I'm a nice guy_

_I'm a sick guy_

_Money too much_

The corners of her mouth dropped dramatically, the tears emerged from her striking eyes before she stared down at her shoes and he saw how a salty tear ran down her cheek, onto the ground. Pascal immediately dove towards it to lick it up. "Jack I thought you were going to be happy, I thought-"

_I step on stage and girls move too much_

_The flow so gross, my nickname school lunch_

_And he with them other guys, you know it's true 'cause_

_OK, G-A-M-B-I-N-O_

_I know they hate_

_But I don't know why, uh_

_I know the way he did you was whack_

_But I know how you can get dude right back (you can get with me)_

"And I thought you took your birth control pills! We've both agreed kids weren't a thing we wanted now! Did you do it on purpose to 'happily surprise' me?!" he yelled at her in madness, while he stared tenaciously and impassively in her eyes, trying to find a reason in them why she did this to him. The despondency arose in him, and he sighed wistfully. The atmosphere came taciturn, obnoxious as well unnerving as he stood across her. She averted her gaze from him and didn't answer, actually saying 'yes' in silence.

_And now that it's over_

_I just wanna break your heart right back_

_Right back_

_Want you to cry me a river_

_I just wanna break your heart right back_

"So, yes. Listen, I'm not ready to become a father! I... I can't believe this, all the time you were lying to me?! The whole time we did something you knew there was a chance you could become pregnant, you knew it and you didn't even bother to inform me!" he again yelled in his rage and shock. She again didn't say anything. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders jolted and she sobbed, while the tears ran down her cheeks.

_All this time, I was blind running around telling everybody_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby_

_My baby_

_My baby loves me_

"I-I want to ke-keep the b-baby," she sobbed almost inaudible and unintelligible while her shoulders jolted uncontrollably.

"But I don't," he shot cockily at her, making a decision that would change his life, his fiancée's, but especially the little fragile embryo's. He was so angry; he just felt his blood boiling and he'd never felt in his life so much shock and hate for a situation than the situation he was in now.

_My baby loves me_

_My baby loves me_

_My baby_

_My baby_

_My baby loves me_

A few months ago he'd asked to her if she took her birth control pills and she said 'yes', but all the time she had been lying to him! He couldn't believe it, he just couldn't believe it. Shock was dominating mind and thought and he couldn't think properly at all.

_Runnin' round town tell everybody_

_Runnin' round town tell everybody_

_Runnin' round town tell everybody_

_Runnin' round town tell everybody_

He sighed in despondency, and he felt a heavy headache coming up, actually not asking for this drama. His fiancée was sobbing and she buried her face in her hands. "Listen, I give you two choices; choice one: you get an abortion and save the marriage, or you choose for two; you keep the baby, but then I will leave and I mean it,'' it hurt to say this, but he couldn't become a father, not now and he didn't want to live with a liar, didn't want someone who didn't respect his principles and wishes.

_I'm comin' out (yeah, yey say, say)_

_He's comin' (hey)_

_I'm comin' out_

"It's all your choice: Me or the baby, and don't begin about a compromise, because I don't have the need to live with a liar," he hissed coldly while he straightened his back.

**END FLASHBACK**

"So that's why you hate it when I change your parting; it reminds you of her." She was really shocked when she heard all what she had missed in those eight years of not seeing him.

"Yeah, kind of but now I don't think I mind it anymore. That's the past and I'm never going back,'' he said determinedly while he cleared his throat with valour, trying to be a man but it was hard sometimes.

"So to see to your behaviour and that you aren't in a relationship, she has chosen for the baby," Elsa concluded thoughtfully.

"Yes, and that surprised me, but I would've been a coward if I hadn't kept myself to my promise. It sounds really selfish, but sometimes you need to think of your needs and not of others." It had been years since he'd spoken about this part of his past. His mother said he had to go to some psychologist, but he'd insisted he didn't need it. ''As you know I've always been too busy with full-filling the needs of others and not myself. But after the moment I had discovered my ex-fiancée betrayed me I've decided to stop with the pleasing everyone.''

"You were scared of becoming a dad?" Elsa asked softly.

"And again, yes," he confessed, while he casted his eyes down.

"For what?"

"For not having control, losing my job, reputation, all kinds of things, but in the end it was all a voice in my head," He didn't dare to look at her, kind of scared she would create an aversion for him now after all what he'd done to his ex-fiancée.

"But she didn't want an abortion?" Elsa asked curiously, completely hooked to the story.

"No, she wanted to keep it. It was or the baby get's out of her life or I. She wanted to keep it so I left as I had warned her for. I moved to LA, bought my apartment at Ocean Avenue, the boulevard of Santa Monica beach, to get my own life and I've never seen her anymore." Jack was secretly happy he had nothing to do with her anymore because if he had been a dad already, all his freedom had been taken away because he had to raise a child.

"So, because of your 'past' you are now the 'lady killer', one-night stand guy and you think love is all a big lie?" Elsa rattled matter-of-factly.

He was silent, but deep down he agreed.

"I think you are scared to bond yourself to others, scared to lose them. You know how it's called?" she said with a soft smile. Jack shook his head in response.

"It's thantophobia, the fear of losing someone you love,"

He smiled warmly at her, blushed as he casted his eyes down before he found hers again. "You are wise, Elsa. And you're really an angle in the end even though you first have to thaw a bit. You know, I see a woman who doesn't know how beautiful and sweet she is and I'll be jealous of the bastard that will marry you.''

Elsa wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly while she now officially sat on his lap. He couldn't help it but think about the kisses they'd shared on this couch. "Thanks for being so nice and honest, thanks for sharing your past, while being Jackson," Elsa whispered. She tried to wrap her legs around his waist on the couch while she sat on his lap.

"You're welcome," he whispered huskily in her ear and he shoved her shirt gently up, her navel showing as the two giggled. He again put his hand on her stomach. He didn't understand why she was so insecure about her body, since her stomach was good as flat. She looked at him, smiling. Suddenly her smile faded and she cringed again in pain. She crawled herself up into a ball and she averted her head from him. "It's alright El," he said softly. He didn't want her to feel pain. She whispered an apology, but then he asked. "Why do you have to apologise? It's not your fault,"

"I-I know but,…'' the tears streamed down her face before she spoke. ''Jack," She began softly and her voice was suddenly so hoarse and raspy. She was about to confess something and he somehow knew it was damn serious.

"Yes?" he mumbled softly, shutting his eyes to just enjoy her presence while he nuzzled in her hair, completely in dreamland, until Elsa spoke three shocking words he'd never expect her to speak in this situation, right here, right now;

"I was pregnant."

**END PART I**

**BEGIN PART II**

His eyes widened in utter shock and he almost jerked her away in a reflex when he heard the words, but he could just restrain himself from doing it in the last seconds. "_What?! _Of Dylan?!" he exclaimed in utter shock.

Elsa nodded softly and a tear ran down her cheek, while she casted wistfully her eyes down in apparent shame.

"What happened did you?-"

"Yes, I got rid of it. I couldn't have my first child from someone who didn't love me," she said harrowingly, while another hot tear ran down her cheek. It was clear she hated herself in some way for doing it. He just somehow knew she felt soulless, like a monster.

**FLASHBACK**

**ELSA**

They were silently having dinner. A tensed atmosphere hung in the air. She could only hear the cutlery scraping against the plates. The food didn't taste her at all and she felt nauseous. Elsa didn't dare to look at Dylan, her boyfriend; she'd screwed it up again and she knew this was the last time she had to try this.

Out of nowhere Dylan spoke and he didn't even bother to reduce his volume. "Elsa, I am done with this! It was the plan you would come to my parents and that we would have dinner with them! This is the eleventh time you can't come to something that has been arranged, tell me what's wrong with you?!" Dylan yelled at her out of the blue.

Elsa looked up to face him. She looked into her future husband's blue eyes. His brown hair was messy, but normally it was always perfectly styled, he looked tired and she now saw how desperate and wistful he was. The word 'fatigue' was almost written down on his forehead in bold letters. She asked herself how she could've not seen this, how she could've just ignored the bags under his eyes, the desperate WhatsApp messages where she was because he worried about her and the questions if she was still into him. He didn't know how to handle the situation anymore that was clear.

She could only cast her eyes down in shame, knowing she should have been eating dinner with her future family-in-law all the eleven times she had skipped the dinners with Dylan's family, instead of travelling to world destinations to solve cases around the world for her job. She looked at the wooden surface under her. This table, where they shared so much; make out sessions, their first date, laughing, serious conversations, but the last time only quarrels had been shared. It wasn't even fun anymore to come home after so many weeks without him. He always wanted to know why she was always away from home, why she didn't have a job from eight to five and why she always lied to him.

She knew she was tangled in her own damn lies.

"Elsa answer me! Damn it!" Dylan yelled in anger at her, while he threw his cutlery down on his plate. "What is wrong with you the last time? You are behaving so mysterious, you don't want to make out with me anymore, you are always away from home, you are always nauseous, you don't tell me anything! If this is going to be our marriage, then we are through!"

Elsa's eyes widened in shock and she couldn't contain the situation. This got beyond her imagination. "D-Dylan I mean... I didn't... I..." she stammered in shock and desperation, but he already interrupted her.

"Elsa I give you two choices; choice one: You tell me the damn truth about what you are hiding from me, why you always away from home, why we haven't done anything the past two months to save this damn marriage or you choose choice two; you don't speak and I'm done with this relationship! It's or telling the truth or I'm leaving!" he yelled angrily at her and he stared incisively in her eyes, impassively and penetrating. His gaze gave her an obnoxious feeling.

A tear ran down her cheek. Dylan raised and wanted to walk away to the bedroom, but Elsa also raised and walked as fast as she could to overhaul him. She grabbed his hand and turned him around. He looked with a cold glare down at her. She felt small, since he was bigger than her. He pulled his hand back and laid his hands on his hips and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Dylan I... I love you I-"

"It's too late for that Elsa. Tell me the truth. Now."

Elsa sighed, but averted her head. She couldn't, she couldn't tell him, none of the two things. She couldn't tell him she worked for the ISA, and also that she was pregnant. She wasn't even happy when she'd seen the little plus sign. The last months it was going bad between Dylan and her. Sometimes they didn't speak to each other for days and then one of them smashed their lips upon the other ones for a make up-make out session, but that was the only thing what kept this future marriage in position.

She still hadn't spoken, she could only stare down at her shoes. She thought of the child inside of her. The child that was part of her and Dylan and worst of all, if he or she would quit the marriage, she would have her first child from a man who didn't even love her. The child wouldn't have a father then. She would always be away from home, she would ignore her kid, neglect it.

No, neither of them wanted this child. Her decision was clear and Dylan didn't have the need to know she was pregnant; it would only make it more difficult.

She didn't answer, crossed her arms and averted her head, as well gaze from him and there it came; the sentence she had already suspected he would speak; "Okay, so you choose the last option. Sad how this has to end. Bye Elsa," Dylan shot soulless with a cocky undertone at her, like it was nothing and he turned around, before he walked to the bedroom.

"What are you going to do?!" she yelled after him.

"Pack my bags, I don't have the need to live with a liar."

**END FLASHBACK**

When she told Jack everything she was crying her eyes out. He wrapped his arms around her and comforted her. "It's alright El, that Dylan is just a dickhead, he isn't worth it to cry about. Even if you did tell him the truth, he wouldn't, he doesn't understand in which position we are as agents with confidentiality," Jack whispered comforting with a groan in his voice, not understanding how Dylan could be such a dick.

Well actually, he had been one too.

Maybe he still was?

Elsa nodded affirmatively, while her shoulders jolted and she let out a last sob. ''But you've really gotten rid of the baby?" they broke apart. He looked deeply in her eyes. She could see the worry in his deep blue eyes. She nodded and casted confoundedly her eyes down.

"I just couldn't keep it,"

A silence and Jack's eyes could apparently only dart from left to right as they were casted down.

"You know what? Why don't you first take a warm shower, just relaxing, and then I put you to bed, just nuzzle in the sheets, I will get a hot water bottle for you that you can ley on your tummy? And you know what? You may borrow my Mac and watch every movie you like on Popcorn Time, is that a deal?"

Elsa looked up at him with puppy eyes while she frowned. "Yes, but will you come with me?" she asked with a soft smile and she took her hand in his.

"With what?" he asked confusedly, and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

''Showering, so you can see how I bleed a waterfall of blood, now good?'' she joked and he laughed. ''No, I mean watching movies,''

He grinned. "Come on." He scooped her in his arms, bridal style, led her to the bedroom and put her on their bed. Elsa looked at him questioning.

''I can still walk, Prince Charming,'' she rolled playfully with her eyes.

Elsa threw herself on the bed with her arms wrapped around her tummy. She crawled herself up into a ball. Poor El.

"Well princess, I'll be waiting for you till you're done.''

"Why do you call me Princess? Isn't that a bit too sweet for a dangerous man like you with his guns and 'saving the world'?'' she teased him in a heroic tone as she quoted her fingers in the air.

He laughed and shot resolutely back. "Far too much gossip for someone who cried in pain three minutes ago," he teased back. Elsa stuck her tongue out at him. She was cute when she did that in his opinion. Elsa threw her shirt off so she was in her bra. He made his way out of the bathroom before Little Jackie was about to have his own mood.

"See you," he smiled.

Twenty minutes later he saw how the doorknob turned. The door opened and Elsa walked in the room, dressed in sweatpants and a shirt. He snickered softly, before he grabbed his computer and loaded Popcorn Time, a free download program where you can watch every TV show either movie you want on high quality. Slowly, everything loaded.

''Oh and I've been thinking about that ex of you;'' Jack began, he looking up to face Elsa.

''Don't cry over somebody who won't cry over you."

She was silent for a moment thought about the quote. ''You know Jack,'' she began, ''the last half year it was all shit between us anyway; we always had quarrels, everything was a problem, so yeah I think in the end I just cut the whole relationship off. Somehow I don't mind anymore… it's more that I feel bad for the baby.''

He smiled softly before he spoke. ''I think it's meant to be.''

Elsa was silent, not knowing what the answer.

"Come, let's pick a movie." He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the bed. She landed giggling top of him by accident, the two chest to chest. For a moment Jack hesitated if he had to bend and place a kiss on her lips, but before he was done with arguing with himself whether he would do it or not, the moment and atmosphere was gone and they both averted their eyes from each other.

Elsa threw herself off him, blushing furiously, while he also felt the awkwardness. He wrapped his arms around her, grabbed a blanket, laid it over them, and he then grabbed his MacBook

"This is fun,'' a rambunctious giggle escaped her lips, and talking about lips, he was throttling for them now, and the feeling of wanting to kiss her was almost excruciating, but it would he weird if he would kiss her right away here and he knew that if Elsa wasn't in the mood for it, she would reject him in love or not.

"So, which movie do you want to watch?"

Elsa thought but then came with the _ultimate classic_. "Titanic."

"Romance and drama in one, of course," he laughed while he rolled playfully with his eyes. Elsa blushed, clearly not knowing if he liked her choice. "No, it's okay, I'll put it on," he smiled gently. Elsa closed her eyes and she bit her lip while she frowned. He'd totally forgotten to make a hot water bottle for her. "Elsa, shall I make a-" but before he could end his sentence she grabbed almost animal-like his hand in a way of 'give it now and no but's' and put it on her tummy. "hot water bottle," he ended. She smiled deviously at him. In the meantime Elsa had laid her head on his shoulder.

Two hours later Elsa was crying her eyes out in his chest, her shoulders jolting uncontrollably. Not because she had PMS, not because she felt so much pain, no because Jack died. Elsa almost lay upon him, clamping herself upon him while the tears ran down her rosy cheeks. Jack snickered softly and he patted her on her back, to comfort her.

He couldn't conceal a snicker when Elsa sobbed. "D-don't d-die Ja-Jack, y-you ca-can't d-die, R-Rose lo-loves you!" Elsa muffled in his chest. He felt how her warm tears soaked his shirt.

"Someone in here is highly emotional when she is on her period," he teased, while he still patted her on her back. Elsa looked up, so he looked in her now watery blue eyes that were narrowed in a mortifying death glare, while she now really lay on top of him, she 'raised' and sat on top of him with one leg on his left side and one on his right side. "and inflammable," he added deviously while he closed his MacBook.

"Jack!" she exclaimed laughing, while she poked him as she wore a playful death glare. They both laughed. Elsa moved to her side and soon Jack spooned up against her while he placed his hand again on her tummy. He closed peacefully his eyes.

"I'm tired after all that talking, making tummies warm, and watching drama movies with a PMS Elsa next to me," he joked in a sleepy tone.

Elsa giggled softly. "Well, I don't have so much pain anymore as first," she whispered, while she placed her hand up his.

"My hard work pays off, God bless me,'' he groaned.

Elsa giggled.

"Thank you for sharing your story with me, El," he whispered softly while he still closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her lying against him.

"You're welcome Jack. I just had to 'thaw' and now you see... I am willing to share anything with you. And you too, I've never known you had such a serious relationship and I hope the sweet Jackson I know with that golden little heart is still there deep down, and I know one day you will be a woman's Prince Charming and I will be happy for her, since she is the luckiest woman in the world with a husband like you in the end," she whispered back, but now she turned herself in his direction. They glided under the covers and Elsa and Jack moved their pillows to each other in the middle of the bed, to lie close to each other.

"That's very sweet of you. Sleep well," he whispered sleepily and before he knew it he dozed off with Elsa in his arms, determined to never let go of her.


	20. Chapter XIV Hans

**CHAPTER XVIIII: Hans' secrets**

**JACK**

The next morning after the movie night the dust particles danced playfully in the sunlight that escaped through the split of the curtains. The sheets were twisted around the agent till his waist, one arm lying across the king size bed, one arm on his stomach, while the sleeping figure's chest moved steadily in a rhythmic pace. The inhaling and exhaling was the only thing to be heard in the silent room.

Eyes fluttered open to reveal a colour blue that was deeper than the Mariana Trench. Fingertips brushed over the soft mattress, the twenty-seven year old hoping to find a sleeping Elsa next to him, but all his hand felt was a cold spot. He looked up and then saw there was nothing more but a bundle of snow-white sheets flipped over to the other side of the bed.

No Elsa.

His eyes widened slowly and he exhaled in a sigh. He moved upwards to lean with his back against the headboard. He listened carefully to hear if there was any sound in the kitchen. Maybe she was making breakfast, but he heard nothing. No sound of closing cupboards, no delicious smell of breakfast that filled his nostrils, no sizzling of bacon in a pan.

Nothing.

He wanted to close his eyes to relax a bit, but just when he'd shut his eyes, he heard how the door of the bathroom that bordered to their bedroom opened and slowly the door was pulled aside. Elsa tiptoed into the room. Her hair was wet; she'd showered. She did not notice him the first seconds. His eyes widened when they trailed over her now naked but absolutely, in the agent's opinion, beautiful body.

Elsa looked up, she now turning crimson and eyes were casted down in confoundedness. Jack quickly averted his impudent and most of all tenacious gaze from her. "Elsa, you are beautiful,'' he smiled softly at her, not to flirt, no, he did it because he wanted her to feel comfortable.

Elsa turned around, while she put on her bra. "Y-you really think that?" she squeaked. She looked insecure, now a tone of tentation prevailed in her voice. She shoved a strap of her bra onto her shoulder.

"Yes, I do otherwise I wouldn't say it of course," Jack gloated and he looked in her eyes. Her cheeks became a shade of rouge he loved, as she hopped simultaneously a few times on one foot to put on her undergarments, and they both giggled because of her clumsiness. He wanted to take a shower as well, cold to his preference; so he could awake.

He jumped up from the bed, lifted his shirt and threw it across the room to God-knows-where. He then put off his sweatpants. In the meantime Elsa had dressed herself in a shirt, and she was now about to put on some jeans. She tried to pull the waist of her jeans up to fit in them. "I notice I've gained some weight," she mumbled.

"I've fed you too much," Jack winked with a giggle. She turned around when he lowered his boxershorts, although Jack didn't mind. He saw how Elsa's eyes glanced to the right side of the room where he stood.

He walked to the bathroom to have a shower, but Elsa stopped him. "Hey, I'm off to Central Park to walk a bit," Elsa sighed with a soft smile. She stood in the doorway, her side leaning against the doorpost.

He smiled and nodded.

Twenty minutes later he walked into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, while he ran simultaneously through his messy wet hair. He walked to his closet to dress himself. He was just pulling a shirt over his head when he heard how his phone rang.

He grabbed it and stared at the caller ID. It was a private number. "With Jack Frost."

"_Jack, what a pity you still haven't found me neither my hiding place. I expected better from Elsa and you._" He felt his heart drop when he heard it was Pitch Black. Pitch was his alias. His real name was James, but Jack had no need to use the name he used to use ten years ago.

Ten years ago, back when he and James had a lot to do with each other.

"Pitch! I knew you have something to do with th-"

The criminal harshly interrupted him and it looked like he didn't even listen to Jack. "_Listen, if you don't hurry up with this case it's not you who will find me, but it's me who will find you._" A monotone beep was to be heard the second after. Jack held his phone away from his ear. He saw how his screen lit up because that -in his opinion- son of a bitch had hung up the phone.

He plopped dazedly down on his bed before he ran through his hair in worry. His head rested in his hands. ''I hoped you changed, I hope you didn't have something to do with this case, but guess what: you're still the same treacherous snake,'' he whispered to himself.

The agent sat for a few minutes lifelessly on the side of his bed, minutes in silence passing until he decided to grab his computer to check if there were any new things in the household Smith.

He listened to the tape of yesterday, but there was nothing. No quarrel, no Victoria who was making trouble, no, because if he had to believe Michael, Victoria was locking herself up in her room the whole day, listening twenty-four/seven to her music. He rolled annoyed with his eyes. Suddenly, he heard a quarrel. He stared at the date in the corner of his screen. It had occured yesterday evening.

_"Michael, I'm off to Olivia,"_ he heard Katherine announcing.

_"What do you mean 'I'm off to Olivia'?! In an hour we have a dinner with important people for a new businesss deal!"_ Michael shot back and so to hear his voice he was doing a lot of things at the same time.

_"We? What do you mean?"_ Katherine asked while she raised her voice.

_"If you'd looked at the house agenda you could've seen that,"_ Michael groaned irritated.

_"Whatever, I need to go now,"_ Katherine spoke.

''_No, you can't, Kath. I have promised I would take the family with me! But as you know we can't take Victoria with us. I assume you have arranged something for her?''_

_"No, I didn't since I didn't even know all this!"_

_"Katherine, are you trying to tell me now you haven't arranged anything for Victoria?!"_ Michael groaned back in his incomprehension.

_"Wow, no lack at communications at all,"_ Victoria groaned in the background.

_"Victoria, I have no need to hear any comments from you now,"_ Michael spoke in a calm but groaning tone. Then he turned himself to Katherine once more._"Yes and now?! Call Hans? God, we dump that child almost three times a week at him lately! Katherine, he is my financial advisor and best friend, not a baby sitter!"_ Michael hissed in an irritated tone.

_"Do you know someone else then?!"_ Katherine yelled irritated.

_"No, but I can't believe how you could've brought it so far!"_ Michael snapped at his wife.

_"I?! You expect too much from me!"_ Katherine yelled back.

_"If you'd looked in the house agenda-"_

_''You guys seriously suck at parenting,'' _Victoria groaned.

_Michael opened his mouth to speak ''Veronique stop-''_

_''It's Victoria! Ugh you two are such-''_

''_Such what?!'' Michael spat back. _

''_Such irresponsible dicks for always neglecting and leaving me alone! Just go fuck yourselves, I'm so done with you all,_'' Victoria groaned before Jack heard how she raised and walked away.

Jack paused the tape when he heard how Elsa's mobile vibrated and someone called her.

"Elsa! Your mobile," he yelled, but he then remembered she was off to Central Park. He sighed and walked to her bed stand where her mobile laid on. He stared at the caller ID. It was Victoria.

_Sigh._

"With Jack," he spoke with a groan.

"_I called Elsa,_" she snapped.

"I know but Elsa is gone. Well, what do you want?" he demanded, before he looked bored at his nails.

"_I have information,_" Victoria spoke calmly, a bit too calm for her being.

Maybe this emotional rollercoaster had taken her medicines for the first time in forever.

"What's it about?" he asked curiously, his attention level increasing with the second.

"_It's about the case. You know I've promised to help you guys with the case if you and Elsa would shut your mouths to Michael and Katherine about ballet, right? Okay, so first Lewis and Katherine were in a quarrel practically about me and their relation and then I yelled at them and then Lewis said-"_

"Yes, I heard that," Jack groaned monotone.

"_How?-_"

"A recorder is inserted in Olaf's collar," Jack rattled matter-of-factly with a smarmy smile.

"_Dick-head, wait till I crush your balls so hard that you can't get kids anymore.''_

He could only laugh. "Yeah, just like that previous time when I pinned you against the wall," he winked deviously in a snarky tone.

And _burn_.

He heard on the other side of the line how she snorted in dismay after he dissed her, but then she spoke. "_You only gave me that dog for my birthday to spy on me and Michael and Katherine?! Wait when they hear this-"_

"_Nah-uh_, wouldn't do that if I were you. Remember our arrangement about ballet?" Jack sang deviously in a lilt.

"_Bastard. But to continue, eventually they did dump me at Hans, and we were just talking a bit when his phone rang. He said he wanted to take this call in private after he'd seen the caller ID. When I asked who it was and why I wasn't allowed to hear the conversation, he silenced me. I didn't trust it, so I eavesdropped on him after I followed him when he walked to his study.''_

"So to make a long story short, aka conclusion?" Jack rolled with his eyes.

"_He was talking to Pitch Black_.'' Eyes widened in shock and the colour drained away from his face when he heard the name. "_I'm scared Jack. What does Hans have to do with Pitch?_" Victoria asked in slight panic. The apprehension dominated her voice.

''Pitch huh? Victoria, I assume you're sure of your business, because if this is a joke, well it's not funny.''

_"You think I would make this up?!_" Victoria snapped at him in an irritated tone. "_He caught me at spying on him after he was done with calling,"_ Victoria groaned. _"Wait, you just said you can listen to all conversations, as long as Olaf is with me, right? I took him with me to Hans' apartment and he was almost all the time with me. But anyway I think you or Elsa need to go to his apartment. He isn't at home from one to three P.M today.''_

"Good, I'll listen to the tape and thanks, you're the best,'' Jack smiled softly, while he began to appreciate her more and more.

_"I know right?_" Victoria giggled.

"Well, bye my little hot head," Jack snickered before he hung up the phone. He again grabbed his MacBook to listen to the recordings that had been made by Olaf's collar. He searched for yesterday evening and in seconds the tape played.

_"What's the weirdest thing you have ever done?"_ Victoria asked curiously.

_"Ehm... Oh yes, back when I studied at university I once lost a bet I made with friends and so I had to stand upside-down and try to simultaneously drink a gallon of water,"_ Hans laughed rambunctiously before Victoria also laughed. Hans spoke. _''And, how are things going at school? Do you still hate maths?''_ he asked in a laconic tone, although Jack heard the amusement hidden in it.

_''Oh school is boring and yes, I still hate maths. My headmaster wants me to study Greek and Latin since she's convinced I'm 'gifted' but I think it's bullshit. I don't want to learn Greek mythology shit. Before we know it I'm talking about Nyx and Eos, like you always do.''_

_''I studied Greek and Latin and it's really worth it and fun. If you ever need help you can ask me,''_ Hans spoke nicely. _''Thereby, you're very smart, Victoria. Use your talents.''_

It was silent and the two watched a bit TV before Victoria spoke quite cheekily; _"Hans...why aren't you married, or why don't you have kids?"_

_"It's a complex story,"_ he sighed and Jack heard for some reason the pain in his voice.

_"No, come on tell me! I can handle some drama!"_ Victoria laughed, but it died away soon for some reason before she awkwardly cleared her throat. There fell a silence again but Victoria was persistent and in seconds she spoke again. _"Come on Hans, I want to know it! Was she beautiful your girlfriend? Fiancée? Wife?"_ Victoria giggled like a schoolgirl.

_''I don't want to talk about it.''_

_''But don't you trust me then?'' _Victoria pouted.

_"Yes... no, well I if you really want to know it I was engaged with a woman named Lilly and I had a-"_

The last words of his sentence were muffled away when his phone rang, just like Victoria had forecasted. _"Eh... Victoria, I have to take this one in private, I'll be right back,"_ Hans mumbled but his voice was strict.

_"Why? Who is it?"_ Victoria asked cheekily, determined to know who it was. ''Why am I not allowed to-''

Jack heard a sigh in protest when Hans silenced her and in seconds the fella's footsteps echoed away in the distance. Victoria followed him after he'd walked away. _"Come Olaf,"_ Victoria demanded hissing in a whisper tone and in seconds the sound of dog nails that toddled over parquet was to be heard. In seconds he heard a muffled voice of Hans.

_"Pitch? What?...yes, that's true.-"_

_"Olaf, come back!"_ Victoria whispered, since so to see Olaf was walking away from her and the poodle probably walked into Hans' study room. He heard Victoria swearing in irritation when her dog didn't listen to her anymore.

Jack suspected Hans of that he knew Victoria had followed him to eavesdrop, since he closed the door of his study. Hans was prepared for every situation and that was exactly the reason why this guy was North's previous favourite before the redhead had quit.

_"How can I know Michael is at home?! Pitch... We can't make that! She trusts me-" _Hans was silent since Pitch interrupted him._ "You want to use her practically as bait? Huh, never I won't let you hurt her!"_

What was this for vague shit? Who was this 'she'? And why was Hans so protective over this 'she'? were the things he wanted to know. _"Yes I know and Elsa is so close with Victoria lately. A bit too close for my liking. If she's smart enough she can discover my secret, Victoria's secret,"_ Hans hissed in a panicked tone.

Jack was about to get more and more question marks with every second that passed in this weird conversation.

_"Oh yes, I can down right strangle her lately, since she's putting her nose in everything but her business,"_ Hans snorted in irritation. It was silent for a moment, until he spoke once more. _"Yes, Victoria is at my house now... Yes, I know about our deal."_ Jack heard how his voice became hoarse and sensitive. _''Yes, bye.''_

_"Victoria,"_ he spoke almost a second after he'd opened the door of his study again. _"Did you eavesdrop on me?'' _Hans asked calmly.

_"No, I didn't,"_ Victoria lied flawlessly. Hans ignored her, probably not wanting to start a quarrel. _"Is it alright if I use the bathroom?"_ Victoria asked nonchalantly.

_"Of course,"_ Hans mumbled.

_"Perfect..."_ Jack knew the cunning redhead was about to tiptoe into his study room. He fell right into a conversation after he'd skipped a few minutes before resuming the tape again.

_"Victoria? Are you here?"_ Hans spoke timidly. _"Olaf, find Victoria,"_ Hans almost demanded. Soon, Jack heard how a door opened with a creak. _"What are you doing in this room? Victoria, stay away from that wall-"_

_"What's behind this? Can I shove it away?"_ Victoria asked curiously. Hans walked towards her and probably grabbed her by her arm before leading her away for some reason, since the girl wailed in protest that he had to let her go.

_"What did you try to find here and why are you in this room without my permission?"_ He sounded like a parent.

Victoria didn't answer him and Jack heard how Hans sighed when she dodged his question. _"Why is this room empty? And what's behind that wall?"_ she demanded resolutely.

_"Nothing-"_

_"Then why am I not allowed to see what's behind it?"_ Victoria asked cheekily.

''_Are you always questioning?_'' he groaned.

''_When I don't get answers, yes_.''

It was silent but Jack somehow just knew Victoria wore a smirk in pure victory when Hans didn't answer her. _"Come with me, I have no time for this,"_ Hans sighed. He walked away and so to hear, Victoria followed him or he pulled her once more with him by her arm.

_"But Hans-"_

_"No Veronique, and I don't want any contradiction,"_ Hans spoke in a parental tone.

_"But this is like so unfair! I deserve to know the truth!-"_

The girl's protest was overshadowed when Hans' mobile rang again and Victoria sighed heavily._ "Yes, Michael? Well she can stay at me… yes for one night of course. Well I can bring her to school tomorrow then if you want me to? Perfect.. Bye."_ And he hung up._ "Well, your dad just called-"_

_"He's not my dad,"_ Victoria hissed.

_"Well Michael just called,'' _Hans corrected himself_, ''and because of several reasons they can't make it to pick you up. So now it has been arranged that you stay with me tonight." Hans explained. "Only I don't really have a guest room to be honest,-''_

''_Nah indeed, you really don't have some empty room left or so…'' _Victoria scoffed sarcastically.

''_I mean I have no extra bed. Mine is big enough for us two to sleep in,'' he murmured, but then he added, ''but if you don't want to sleep with me in one bed, that's no problem; I'll sleep on the couch."_ Jack heard in his voice he didn't want her to feel obnoxious about the situation.

_"Oh no, it's okay!"_ Victoria said laconically. She really didn't seem to mind it.

_"Why don't you already go to sleep and I'll come later, okay?"_ he spoke friendly.

_"It's half past ten, bitch please! Normally I stay up till two maybe three 'o clock in the night,'' _Victoria laughed, but then there fell a silence and she spoke again. _'But that is because I can't sleep. My bipolarity and PTSD just always bug me,"_ Victoria added softly.

_"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Tell me more please,''_ Hans asked concernedly and worried.

''_When I was four years old I was involved in a shooting and now, eleven years later I still get flashbacks and dreams about it. I'm scared to death to go to sleep lately."_

_"Can you remember something of the shooting? Do you remember your parents? Your old parental house?"_ Hand asked.

_"No... I can only remember my mother, but that's only because I have a photo of her. And my dad... he's like a blur. The only thing I can remember is that he's bipolar as well and that he was my 'Super Dad', my everything. But then he left me...left me to die...one day he just shut me out and I've never known why,"_ Victoria sighed with the pain in her voice.

_"I would never shut you out,"_ Hans spoke softly in a caring tone.

_"No, you wouldn't, but my father has just left me and has never come back. It's like he doesn't care about me anymore..."_ Victoria spoke softly and insecurely. Jack heard the despondence in her voice.

_"Your father has a good reason for all what he did, I'm sure. I think he loves you, he still does. Nobody can leave a child and not love it, nobody can say goodbye without shedding a tear, nobody knows what truth is and what he actually meant with leaving you.'' _

**(A/N): Song: My Everything by Ariana Grande**

_I've cried enough tears to see my own reflection in them_  
_And then it was clear_  
_I can't deny_  
_I really miss him_  
_To think that I was wrong_  
_I guess you don't know what you got 'till it's gone_

Hans continued_; ''Maybe he has done it out of love, maybe he had no choice, maybe he put your needs before his -an act of true love- but in the end he'll always be called a monster for leaving his child to then put the house on fire before disappearing into the night and with nothing but an empty heart,"_ Hans spoke softly before there fell a silence.

_"You think so? Do you think he does care about me?"_

_"Yes I do. Now let's head to bed."_

_Pain is just a consequence of love _  
_I'm saying sorry for the sake of us_

_"But Hans I'm scared, I just keep on having the same dream about the shooting. It's just so terrifying and I don't dare to fall asleep,"_ Victoria spoke softly.

_"You know what? If I head to bed just like you now, maybe it can help when you want to fall asleep, because then you have a person who's close to you and can comfort you.'' _

Victoria nodded.

_He wasn't my everything till we were nothing_  
_And it's taken me a lot to say_

''_Do you have nightmares sometimes?'' _Victoria asked.

''_You should know,'' _Hans sighed in despair.

''_Where are they about?'' _

''_Loss.'' _Hans began_. ''Loss of loved ones.''_

_But now that he's gone, my heart is missing something_  
_So it's time to push my pride away_

Jack skipped a part of the tape and within seconds he heard the sound of moving sheets and it was clear the two lay in bed. Victoria spoke. _"The scent of these sheets I swear I recognise this perfume. It reminds me of something."_ Victoria almost whispered.

_'Cause you are, you are, you are my everything_  
_You are, you are, you are my everything_

_I know you're not far, but I still can't handle all the distance_  
_You're traveling with my heart_

Hans softly shushed her. _"Try to sleep, close your eyes and everything will be alright."_

So to see, Victoria ignored him_. ''My full name is Victoria Veronique Aurelie Leroux as far as I know. But the weird thing is that the two names Victoria and Veronique mean the same: 'Victory'.''_

_''I guess your parents loved both names and the meaning but preferred Victoria in the end then...''_

_I hope this is a temporary feeling_  
_'Cause it's too much to bear without you_  
_When I lose sight, it ain't the cure_

_"Hans, why do you do this for me? You know like taking me half in, and just caring about me, even when no one else does it in the entire world?"_ Victoria asked whispering, ignoring his demand about going to sleep.

_If I go tomorrow, just know I'm yours_  
_'Cause what we got is worth fighting for_

'_cause you are_

_"Because I'm a good friend of your foster parents and because we are very good friends. You know Victoria, I know more about you then you might think and I see immediately through that mental wall of you,"_ Hans whispered.

_"I see through yours too. I know you act cold to some people, like Elsa and Jack-"_ Jack looked up when his and Elsa's name was mentioned._ "But I know you don't want to be like that, that it's not you... Weird how we see and know that from each other right? I wonder if there is a name for it.''_

_You weren't my everything till we were nothing_

_And it's taking me a lot to say_

It was silent before Victoria spoke again. _"Every time I close my eyes, I get this same flashback again and again and I feel so scared,"_ Victoria whispered and Jack heard how she let out a sob. And then Jack realised Victoria was actually really sensitive.

_"You want a hug?"_ Hans asked.

_Now that you're gone my heart is missing something_

_So it's time I push my pride away._

_You are, you are, you are my everything_

_"Y-yes."_ Jack heard muffled sobs in the background, since Victoria probably sobbed in his chest, safely in his arms. _"M-my fa-father a-also u-used to d-do that wh-when I w-was sc-scared; he would wr-wrapped his arms around m-me and th-then w-we wou-would fa-fall asleep i-in each other's a-arms,"_ Victoria sobbed harrowingly.

''_H-he was just my everything.''_

_You are, you are, you are my everything_

_"I ca-can say I-I ha-hate him but de-deep down, I ju-just can't. I st-still l-love hi-him. I miss him so much, Hans. I m-miss him s-so mu-much. I w-want him to co-come back, be-because I can-can't li-live like this any-anymore,"_ Victoria sobbed heartbreakingly in his chest while she couldn't stop crying.

_"I feel so alone and neglected,"_ she whispered. '_'I w-want r-real pa-parents, a h-home and n-not a house, I want my m-mother, I want m-my f-father. I am scared for the real world where I'm in, I don't want to become a grown up. It's like I'm a bird without wings, a phoenix without ashes to rise from.''_

_"It's alright, you're safe now and nothing will happen to you,"_ Hans mumbled while he probably nuzzled in her auburn hair.

_You are, you are, you are my everything_

_"D-do yo-you pr-promise?"_ Victoria sobbed.

_"I... I promise,"_ Hans almost whispered.

_You are, you are, you are my everything_

Jack paused the tape when he heard how Elsa came home, since the front door opened and closed with a thud. He laid his MacBook aside, raised from their bed and walked into the living room. He saw how Elsa threw the apartment keys on the dinner table before she put her coat off.

"Elsa, I swear by the Styx; I have news and it's like serious, strange and almost terrifying at the same time," Jack announced seriously and he bit consecutively his under lip. Elsa raised an eyebrow at him in ignorance.

"Victoria just called me with information to help us with the case. What happened? Pitch called Hans last evening."

Elsa's eyes widened in astonishment. "What?! How does Victoria know this?" Elsa asked with slight panic in her voice. Her blue eyes were filled with anxiety. ''Wait, now we have Pitch, Hans, Oliver and Dylan who are part of this case and we don't even know what their roles are in the whole plight.''

Jack nodded while walked towards their bedroom.

"What are you going to do?!" Elsa yelled after him, raising her voice so he wouldn't get out of earshot.

"I need to show you something," Jack sighed and he grabbed his computer to let her listen to the recordings.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me..." Elsa whispered in astonishment while she stared numbly at the screen of Jack's MacBook after she had heard the recordings.

"I'm off to Hans's apartment, now," Elsa spoke determinedly and impulsively out of nowhere. Before she could raise from her chair, he grabbed her like a true ninja by her upper arm and pulled her back.

"Hold on feisty pants, stop. You're like hurricane Irene with all this weird and uncontrollable behaviour. Listen, Hans isn't at home from one P.M. till three, and now it's half past one so you are going to calm down right now," Jack snickered while he laid his hand upon her shoulder.

"Wait, Irene was-''

''The hurricane of 2011 that destroyed almost in half of New York and made the subway system was flood for almost a week? Yes,'' Jack spoke snarkier.

''Jack, I need to go to Hans' apartment, I can strangle that traitor with his perfectly disgusting face right now with my fucking bare hands_,_ and I-"

"And I think you should calm down," Jack interrupted her with a snicker. He saw how she became slowly a hot heat. "Elsa, my love, you don't even know where his apartment is-"

"I'll call Victoria," Elsa spoke determinedly.

Jack sighed heavily. "It's dangerous, I don't want to know what Hans will do if he catches you at sneaking into his apartment," Jack spoke worriedly while he stroked gently a tress of platinum blonde hair out of her sight, before his hand moved to her cheek to caress it with his thumb.

"I know, but I have to do it. Please let me go!'' she begged. ''Maybe he has something to hide in his apartment! Remember that weird wall?''

"Okay, but promise me, be careful,'' Jack spoke while he took her hand in his.

"I promise," Elsa promised, still holding her hand in his.

She stepped out of the car and jerked the car door. The fresh air filled her nostrils. Hans didn't live that far away from Central Park. He lived in a quite serene and quiet quarter. The residents that lived here were mostly wealthy business people. Upper West Side was highly underestimated with its capacity and beauty in Elsa's opinion. Yes, Hans lived generously as a bachelor in the calm neighbourhood.

She checked the street, but she didn't recognise his car, a black Range Rover. She walked to the door of his house and of course it was locked. She tried to find a way to break into his apartment without immediately breaking the door in pieces.

"_Miss?_" She heard a voice behind her and she turned around. A woman of about twenty-seven years old called her. She walked out of the apartment which next to the one of Hans. She must be his neighbour. "Are you looking for Mr. Westerguard?" she asked.

"Yes. I promised I would take care of his eh.. _snake_."

''But I've forgotten to bring the keys of his apartment with me,'' she added quickly to cover the weird previous sentence up.

"Well I heard there lies a key under the doormat. Anyway, I have to go now. Have a nice day," she smiled before she walked away.

Elsa mumbled 'thank you'. Elsa dove to the floor when the woman was out of sight and she threw the mat to the left. Indeed, key found. "I'd expected better tricks from you to keep me out of your apartment, Hans," Elsa whispered deviously to herself while she inserted the key into the door to open it.

She quickly put the key back under the doormat and entered his house.

After walking through a quite long corridor she entered his living room. The room looked cosy with the fuzzy fur cushions and modern fireplace. Even when she didn't want to admit it, Hans had a good taste for fashion and it was clear he earned a lot of money by being a financial advisor.

She decided before checking out that weird room to first investigate his bedroom.

God-knows-what he hid there.

His bedroom had an overall sand colour, A king size bed with a black mattress stood across of her. A huge panorama view window to look over New York's skyline caught the corner of her eye.

She reminded herself why she was here, so she plopped down on his bed and began with opening the drawers of his bed stand. She roamed through it, while shoving things away which were as common as milk in a cooler. She sighed when she found nothing in the first drawer. Elsa wondered if he would have mistresses or if he slept often with someone.

She began to search in another drawer of his bed stand. She almost coiled backwards in shock when she grabbed in her rage of finding something a 9 mm Semi-Automatic shotgun. She felt her heart making a jump, and she laid her hand on her heart since she'd almost by accident pulled the trigger. Questions were filling mind and thought. In general guns were illegal in New York.

She calmed herself down and searched further. In the back of the drawer she found a pot she recognised as sleeping pills. It was clear he wasn't a sleeper who slept every night well if you saw the amount of pills that were left.

The agent observed the sticker on the pot so she could see when he'd bought the sleeping pills. First of all she saw he needed a prescription for the pills since the medicines were tough. She raised an eyebrow when she saw he bought them three days ago.

She again shook the pot – which was almost empty- and the blonde processed all her questions like with what did Hans have to cope in his life to not be able to sleep?

Elsa raised when she accepted he wasn't hiding something in his bedroom at all. She sighed while she let herself fall backwards to collapse with the back of her head in Hans' pillow. It smelled like him. He still wore the same perfume as back when he worked for the ISA. He was the irresistible and flirty colleague before Jack had joined the ISA. Everybody used to love the redhead.

She raised from his bed and walked out of his bedroom into the corridor again. She saw two doors. Elsa took the left one. Luckily it was open and Elsa entered the room. A soft creak of a door that hadn't been oiled for a long time filled the air now she stepped into the dark space. She looked around and the room was indeed empty. A dim beam of sunlight escaped through a split of curtains that hung in front of the windows. There stood here and there some moving boxes but furthermore there was nothing more but emptiness in this strange room.

Stinging light caught her eye when a beam of sunlight -which came splitting through the curtains- fell onto a golden doorknob. She glared and held a hand in front of her sight before taking a step to the side. She then saw it was just literally a doorknob in a wall. She walked towards it, put her hand on the doorknob and tried to push it forwards, but it didn't make the wall move, so she tried backwards and with all her strength she pulled the wall towards her. She panted and groaned now she pulled with all her might.

It worked since the wall moved. She passed through the split that she'd made. She had no idea what to expect of Hans.

She entered the small room and looked up when she saw a huge board that was coated with a cork-like material so he could pin things on it with thumbtacks. What was put on it was a thing she couldn't see, since the room was filed with darkness. A fluorescent lamp hung above the board. She pulled on a cord and the lamp flicked on.

Her mouth dropped in astonishment when she saw the things he had placed on the board. It was full with photos, paper articles, notes, and he'd spun a red thread over all of them, almost to make a timeline. An event was followed by another event. She stared down at the ground and saw a moving box standing next to the board. On top of the card box laid a photo book.

A big brass key hung in the middle of the board. It was probably used to lock a closet or something. It had a reddish colour; it was rusted. She walked towards the board and pulled the object off it, before she took it consecutively in her hands to look at it. She asked herself why he had it, and if there was a story behind the key. She only saw there was engraved something in it;

_Mon cœur, mon âme, mon amour_

Elsa recognised it as French. There was engraved in it 'my heart, my soul, my love'.

She hung the key back. An article caught her eye with an oh so well-known headline.

_'P. Black rips family apart after tragic shooting'_. It was the same article the nice jeweller had told her and Jack about when they bought their ring at him. She stared for a second down at her blue sapphire ring before a nauseous feeling attacked her. She couldn't believe this ring was property of such a grim story. She wondered if it could ever be redeemed from its dark glow.

She could finally read the article and there it was.

_17-7-2004, The Guardian, from our reporter Sebastian Smythe._

"Hey that's Sebastian, the father of Faye and the husband of Amélie, Victoria's ballet teacher," Elsa whispered when she studied the name. She again read the article from the beginning.

_17-7-2004, The Guardian, from our reporter Sebastian Smythe._

_Yesterday evening, the sixteenth of July, a shooting occurred performed by P. Black in San Francisco. P. Black -also known popularly as Pitch Black- has his origins in the United Kingdom, but the man moved three years ago with his back then three-year-old son to the United States. The United States has declared if they catch him they'll hand him over to the British authorities._

_In the shooting Black shot a twenty-nine-year-old woman, also known as Aurelie Leroux, our previously national ballet talent from Côte d'Azur, southern France. Her four-year-old daughter was also involved in the shooting, but didn't get shot, even when sources say Black was about to shoot her as well. The reason why he eventually didn't pull the trigger for Aurelie's daughter, Veronique, is unknown. _

_An unknown man has saved the girl out of the flames after he saw the plight. After he saved the Veronique, he handed her over to the police to then disappear into the night and never come back. He wished to stay anonymous when the police asked what his name was. _

_Unfortunately after all what's happened the four-year-old is an orphan now. The authorities will take care she'll get a loving foster family._

_The only survivor that was involved in the shooting is the father of the four-year-old and fiancé of Aurelie. People claim he set the house on fire even when his daughter and the body of his fiancée was still inside and now rumours are spreading that this very man even teams up with our infamous P. Black. _

_What Mr. Black's motive was for visiting the family is still unknown._

_Forensic experts have tried to find the remains of Aurelie in the smouldering ashes of the house, but they couldn't found anything back and that's a thing not even the experts can explain. The police are currently trying to find her body or at least any trace of it._

_Aurelie's daughter was taken to the police office after the shooting where she told the police her mother wasn't moving anymore after a man pulled the trigger of a thing she couldn't name. Out of that the police have concluded the woman was shot. It also explains the gunshot the neighbours heard._

_Why this happened and what exactly happened last night on the sixteen of July is still a mystery to be solved and the big question is: will the truth be forever hidden in the shadows?_

_-from our reporter Sebastian Smythe_

Elsa yelled in fear and anxiety someone grabbed her from behind to turn her roughly around.

Her eyes widened in shock when she laid her eyes on the person and she whispered in fear.

"H-Hans."


	21. Chapter XX Behind a mask of shadows

**CHAPTER XX PART I: deadly euphoria**

**ELSA**

Elsa stood frozen to the ground when she stared straight in Hans' venom green eyes, which darkened incisively in apparent dismay when the redhead saw the intruder. Hans' nails dug into her shoulder, his gaze penetrating. Her eyes were widened in agony, her heart was pounding hard in her chest and the cold sweat made her shudder when the dark possibilities of all what he could do to her at this very moment entered her mind.

With every question a heartbeat replaced.

A silence hung in the air but shocked expressions gave enough sound to make her deaf.

As her eyelids firmly shut, a tear escaped the corner of her eyes to helplessly roll down her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open again to stare into Hans' emerald green eyes which were greener than spring. Her chest was pressed against his, his hands still rested on both of her shoulders, and their noses almost touched, so close was he. A well-known heavy man perfume assaulted her nostrils.

Never had he come so close to her, never had his lips been so close to hers.

Her lips parted, her voice hoarse; "H-Hans-"

"What are you doing here?!" Hans hissed in a low tone. He didn't yell, he didn't raise his voice, no; he'd whispered it softly in a hiss, even though it gave her chills in the way he did it; every word had been pronounced clearly in a slow pace, every word had been intelligible, every word carried an emotion she couldn't place.

"I-I... Hey, why do I have something to explain things?! You're the one here who has a secret room in his apartment, and has a vague board with photos and newspaper articles of a shooting that occurred eleven years ago! I think you are the one here who has to explain things instead of me!" she demanded bossily. She finally found the valour and strength back in her voice. With her firm and authoritative body language she tried to convince him she wasn't scared of him, but the agent knew she would never be able to beat up against a man like him; Hans was definitely strong and she knew he had slight abs.

"I see we have a lot of talk for a burglar,'' he spoke amusedly and Elsa's mouth dropped in dismay. ''If I want to explain something then I will, but for now no thank you I skip this round,'' he winked coldly before he bended even closer to her face to whisper ominously in her ear. '_'I know more of you and Jack than you want me to know. I know your marriage is fake, I know it's part of a new program of the ISA. If you think you can trick me then I ask you friendly to go back to the ISA academy.' _He'd said 'the ISA academy' like he meant Kindergarten. It hurt to hear this comment of the experienced agent who had been nothing more but a living legend before he joined Pitch Black's dark side.

As he whispered the words in her ear, his hands glided off her shoulders to place them on the wall behind her. He did it to make a barrier on her left and right side so she couldn't escape him if she wanted to.

Elsa stammered how he could know about their undercover work, but he bended once and hissed in her ear. ''Does it ring a bell when I tell you I used to work for the International Security Agency?''

''Jack and I knew that from the beginning!-''

''Good for you,'' Hans rolled with his eyes.

"Why have you changed to a cold snake? Why can't you become the sweet, genuine guy everybody used to love and come back to the ISA?'' she begged.

A long silence.

"Listen Elsa, too much has happened, too much have I done wrong in life to return. I can't be the hero of the story anymore. I don't want to, I don't have to, I don't need to.''

Elsa was silent. Then the news item caught the corner of her eye. "Explain why you've saved that article."

"It was a good friend of me, the guy I mean, who has lost his wife and daughter in that shooting," Hans spoke vaguely in an utter calm tone, while he avoided eye contact. Elsa wanted to ask if he knew where Victoria's parents were, but he already continued. ''Listen, I want to find Aurelie back as much as you do! Now, why are you here?!"

"You know for God's sake why; I want to find evidence that you-''

"You won't find anything, Elsa. And keep your distance from Victoria. Her background story isn't your business."

"Just like it's yours," Elsa hissed back, protecting her friend.

After a long silence he spoke.

"You should know," he hissed with a mocking chuckle.

She gasped when he jerked her backwards so her back collapsed into a wall behind her. Her heartbeats felt as irascible as a falling feather that was carried in a vortex. He made his way to her before he placed both of his hands on the wall on her eye height. His arms were like a barrier if she wanted to escape him. She was trapped. Elsa was trying to get away from him, now he was dangerously close. He wasn't invading her personal but intimate space and it made a bump into her ego that she accepted this. She gasped for air as she panicked, the side of her head pressed against the wall. She whispered in fear, "Hans I-"

He shushed her underhand while he placed his finger on her lips. She tried everything to escape him, but he pushed her back in place. She felt every single part of his body, now he stood literally against her. Hans grabbed her arms and pushed them on eye height against the wall with his hands, while his upper leg leaned on hers so she also couldn't move forward anymore. She was caught under his might.

He bended to come close to her ear, she still fighting against him in all her might, but his whispered words stopped her, her eyes widening slightly. ''Now, you want me to play a fun game?'' she wailed a 'no', scared to death he was about to sexually harass her or something.

''Let's play a twisted cat and mouse game. Today I'm the cat, you the mouse. I caught you, but I'll let you go this time,'' she sighed in relief. ''but… after a while we'll reverse roles. Then I'm the mouse and you the cat. Try to catch me, try to handcuff me, take everything away from me I love, try to find evidence so you can have your promotion, but I will never give up and will fight till the end to get back what once was mine."

Elsa stared at him in fear but then spoke with valour. "Deal.''

''You have no idea where you're actually in, what dark things are up oh and if only you knew,'' Hans chuckled almost wickedly.

Then he bended to her ear and whispered ominously.

''You're walking to your own death.''

A knock echoed through the corridor on the thirtieth floor of the luxurious apartment complex. She and Jack were invited to have dinner with Michael and Katherine. It had been arranged almost four months ago at Victoria's birthday party.

In seconds the door opened by Victoria. When Elsa looked in her green eyes they were beaming in happiness. The beginnings of purple veins under her eyes were almost gone, her eyes were greener than spring and her smile was vivacious. "Elsa!"

Elsa was overwhelmed when she felt the arms of the teen tightly hugging her, the side of Victoria's head resting on her chest. Elsa stared a bit off guard down. She realised Victoria had finally opened up her heart to her. She wrapped slowly in her gratitude her arms around the teen while she hugged her, holding her in her arms, before one of her hands moved up to caress quickly through her beautiful long wavy red hair.

Vero may look quite cold on the inside, but she had her heart at the right place and was sweet on the inside.

"'Hello Jack'," Jack groaned monotone. He felt neglected so to see. Victoria broke apart from Elsa and looked at him from head to toe. It was clear she was almost scanning him with her eyes, which were filled with certain scrutiny Elsa couldn't place. Victoria pursed slightly her narrow lips for a second.

"Oh come on, Vero; how long are we going to continue to play World War III?'" Jack joked and his lower lip protruded in a sulky pout before he quickly winked at her. After he'd heard her background story he apparently couldn't help but comprehend for her behaviour and manic episodes. The teen couldn't help but snicker softly, before their eyes met tentatively. Jack's blue orbs were filled with mischief as well surrender and Victoria's wise eyes were forgiving and provisionally the characteristic pugnacity and relentless hate disappeared out of the phoenix' eyes.

Jack spread his arms and soon his arms were wrapped around the svelte girl. Hate turned to acceptance. Elsa knew she wasn't a cuddle person but when she was into hugs, she was an adorable child "Sorry, 'kay? For my dick behaviour," Jack mumbled as he nuzzled with his nose in her hair. Elsa felt proud he'd learned to be a true gentleman instead of a dickhead. She smiled warmly at him.

"No, I'm sorry too,'' she muffled in his chest.

They broke apart. The corners of Victoria's lips were curled into a beautiful genuine smile that could heal every sick or injured. "Come, Oliver is already inside and a few friends of me, Faye, Lizzy, Simone and Ralph are here as well."

They entered the living room and at the dinner table was her boyfriend sitting. His black hair was messy as always, his side swept bangs almost hung in front of his eyes and she noticed he'd changed his hair. Jack already smirked victoriously and proudly when he saw Mr. Black almost copied his hairstyle. Oliver was scrolling down his newsfeed on Instagram. Oliver's yellow eyes wore a dark shimmer. His teeth were remarkably white Elsa saw when he lifted amusedly the corners of his lips to reveal a complacent and confident smirk when he noticed the two. Elsa nodded quickly, trying to be polite but the blonde had effort with it after she'd heard all what Victoria told her about him.

Elsa's gaze moved to another girl who was sitting next to Oliver at the dining table. The fifteen-year-old had long blonde hair and green bluish eyes. "Hello! I'm Faye!" Elsa and her shook hands. She was a polite girl, Elsa could see that immediately. The girl had a boyish figure and a skinny face. The half-Française –just like Victoria- was just made for the sport ballet with her petite posture.

"Faye follows the same ballet classes as me and we play in the same musical which will be presented in a few weeks at Broadway. I hope you two will come and have a look?" Victoria asked smiling brightly, and Faye nodded. No one ever told her Victoria actually played musicals at Broadway!

"Of course we want to come!" Elsa smiled brightly. She looked at Jack who slightly nodded.

Elsa turned her head to the boy who was sitting next to Faye. Friendly dark green eyes -that looked on the first sight brown- gazed at her. His brown hair was decently styled into some latest trend thing you could find on every girl's Pinterest in the board 'future husband' or 'boyfriend material'. His jawline was –next to his hair- also a thing to fangirl about in Elsa's opinion. His features looked older than Victoria's. Elsa was sure the handsome teen was as old as Oliver -seventeen-years-old-. Elsa, as a High Sensitive Person, could see it was a mild guy. She recognised his way of gazing. It weren't the eyes that made her think of a certain person she knew, but it was more the hair colour, the shoulder blades, -just his posture in general- and somehow he had this aura shrouding him she couldn't describe. The boy had certainly 'layers'. The HSP saw there hid more behind his smile for sure.

There hid a story.

The boy looked up. ''I'm Ralph and I play in the same musical as Faye and Victoria. I got to know the two because of Dreamflight.'' She assumed that was the name of the musical. ''Although I'm more like a dancer than an actor. I dance modern and ballet by the way.'' Ralph continued. ''Faye here," and he laid his arm on her shoulder. The blonde smiled at him. "is my best friend, just like Victoria," Ralph smiled brightly before he stared at Victoria who was exchanging gazes with Oliver Elsa couldn't place. She saw how Oliver narrowed his eyes at Ralph before moving his gaze back at his girlfriend. He whispered something through gritted teeth and Victoria rolled annoyed with her eyes in answer.

Oliver dug around in the chest pocket of his black leather jacket and pulled a lighter and smoke out. She raised an eyebrow when he lit his cigarette before taking a long drag. Faye stared at the small roll of tobacco with disgust, but she didn't say a word. It was clear Amélie, her mother and Victoria's ballet teacher, was about to kill her when she would eventry to touch the cylinder, which contained deadly euphoria.

Elsa looked up when another teen walked into the room, out of the kitchen. The probably seventeen-year-old girl had long blue dyed hair -almost mermaid like- and her wavy tresses were pulled into a messy knot. A long lock of hair was stroked behind her ear. Her eyelashes were long, her navel and flat stomach were shown because she wore a crop top and an aura of confidence hung around the girl. A shimmering navel piercing caught her eye.

The girl looked quite nice, even when it looked like her personality had some sharp edges. Like they say; a diamond can be cut. ''Hi, Lizzy,'' the girl introduced herself. A thick Australian accent dominated her voice. ''I hip-hop with Oliver and Simone.'' Her gaze moved to another girl who sat at the dining table. The brunette's eyes were bluer than the Pacific. Simone had been silent all the time, so nobody had noticed her actually. ''Simone,'' the girl introduced herself.

''Oliver,'' Lizzy spoke and after three seconds Oliver looked not amused up from his social media. He cocked his chin up slightly up in a jerking way to say 'what?'. He wasn't a speaker actually. ''I want to hear you sing,'' the girl wiggled with her eyebrows before she giggled. Her smile was splendid and her eyes twinkled.

Oliver cocked coldly an eyebrow at her. ''Does it look like I'm a singer? No, right? Okay so stop please.''

Lizzy rolled with her eyes, not touched by his coldness. ''Yesterday evening you sang when we were drunk 'Bitch Better Have My Money' with me, I think I died out of laughter.''

''Nah-uh, ya still here,'' Oliver groaned monotone back, not paying attention to her anymore.

''You have a hangover or something, Mr. Grumpy?'' she giggled while the Aussie leaned with her buttocks against the table with crossed arms.

''Quite,'' he answered heartedly in concision.

"Eh Elsa, you would help me with ballet to practise for my audition, right?" Victoria began. ''You know, the School of American Ballet wants to find people for their tour?''

"Just like they will choose you out of all those hundreds of people who have the same silly and unreachable dream as you," Oliver commented cockily at his girlfriend while he placed two fingers around his cigarette before he blew the chemicals away in a smoke cloud. Faye, Ralph, Simone and Lizzy were silent, all of them not saying a word. They only glanced at each other. Faye wrinkled her nose slightly when she smelled the smoke scent, Simone acted like she was busy with her phone, Ralph whistled softly and Lizzy watched amusedly the plight in front of her.

''My mother danced in the company! And she made a world tour.''

''That your mother was a national ballet talent doesn't say you're one too,'' Oliver groaned cockily. ''You only see those things in movies, books and such, the whole 'she has her mother's talent'. You're head in the clouds with a cliché thought, Vic. Get it out of your head and move on.'' A cloud of intoxicating smoke escaped his lips once more, the white chemicals occasionally making its way in the room.

Victoria cast defeated her eyes down. ''Come Elsa." She hooked her arm in Elsa's and walked to her bedroom.

**JACK**

He plopped down in a chair across Oliver. The agent never averted his scrutiny gaze from the son of James. It was like a young Pitch Black sat across him. "Nice haircut," Jack winked mischievously while he ran through his platinum hair. The twenty-seven-year-old had an undercut and a long layer of hair lay on top, like it was swept over his head. His wavy tresses gradually tapered to a tip at the front.

Oliver glared in response.

"I have to go; mum expects me to be at home by now," Faye excused herself softly.

"I'm coming with you, since I don't think Victoria will return before dinner," Ralph sighed and he raised along with Faye. Simone looked up, just like Lizzy. The two nodded and also raised to go. Oliver narrowed protectively his eyes at Ralph when he mentioned Victoria's name. Ralph flashed an intrepid glare back in response.

''Hey,'' Lizzy began when Ralph, Faye and Simone had walked away to the corridor to leave. She approached Oliver. He looked up from checking social media and nodded. ''Is it alright if I already go to you?'' she asked in a soft tone, her back turned to Jack. It was she didn't want him to hear the conversation with Oliver and her.

''You have the keys?'' he spoke in the same reduced tone like her. Their eyes met, one pair yellow, one blue. A certain aura hung around the two and it was captivating to see in Jack's opinion.

She shook her head. Oliver brought a hand to one of his pockets to give her the keys of probably his house. She wanted to grab them out of his hands, but he raised his eyebrow playfully while he held the keys away. ''Nothing for nothing,'' he sang in a lilt. Lizzy giggled, cupped his cheeks and kissed the boy benevolent. As the boy's lips were sealed with a tender kiss of the blonde, Lizzy tried blindly to find the keys, which rested in his right hand. Oliver smirked cunningly while Lizzy's lips made their way over his.

Jack raised his eyebrow so far upwards in suspicion and perplexity that he was sure it reached his hairline when he saw the two.

They broke apart and Lizzy quickly muffled the keys away, since she'd found them in their kiss. ''Is your dad at home?'' Simone called Lizzy from out of the corridor. Lizzy looked up but ignored her best friend. She turned her head back to Oliver. The fear was to be read in her eyes.

''No, now go. I see you tonight.'' Lizzy nodded in response, the fear in her eyes gone, and she walked away. Jack followed the girl with his eyes till she was out of sight. A minute later he heard how the front door shut and now only Oliver and he were left. The teen averted uninterested his eyes again and took one more drag of his cigarette, not having the intention to begin a conversation apparently.

"New hairstyle I see. You look just like how your sweet dad used to look in his teen years. By the way, say 'hi' to him from me," Jack said playfully before he raised amusedly an eyebrow.

Oliver blew a smoke cloud away before he threw his cigarette in the ashtray on the table and he faced Jack, his gaze pissed-off. He was sure that if he had stood close enough, that the guy had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Listen Jack, don't play games with me neither with my father because you'll regret it I can tell you that.'' Jack snickered dauntlessly, not scared of James at all. ''Thereby, I don't know if you know it, but dad can't wait to shoot a bullet through your head," Oliver added in a menacing tone. Jack saw how James spoke and not Oliver. His son had the same dangerous glow in his eyes, the same eye colour, the same raven black hair and the same pale complexion.

Jack whistled deviously. "Oh, I see daddy still hasn't coped with what's happened between us in the past,'' Jack commented cunningly with the cockiest smile he'd ever known. He continued amusedly;

''Sad he has to solve his hate and jealousy with a bullet."

**ELSA**

"Okay, try to lift your right more, but do it slowly before you get an injury.'' She felt how the clammy hand of Victoria rested on her lower arm, since the teen was using it as a bar. The redhead's eyes were filled with utter concentration and Elsa saw a nervous glow in them. Victoria's clothes existed out of a shirt, loose sweatpants, and a pair of legwarmers hugged her legs.

They stood in in the middle of her room. Elsa hoped Michael and Katherine didn't hear anything of this quick ballet tutor lesson.

Victoria tried to follow Elsa's advice by lifting her leg a bit more. Her back was back hollowly arched, her chin was tilted, and one arm pranced graciously in the air while her hand moved along with her movements in a sophisticated way. She began to wobble around, now she had let go of Elsa's arm for support. It was like she couldn't focus herself. "You may use my arm as bar-"

"No, tomorrow at the audition I have to do this without an effing bar so now I'll do it without one as well," Victoria snapped determinedly. The control freak couldn't stand it she wasn't in perfect position.

The teen lost her pose before she walked away from Elsa and plopped down on her bed. "This is insane! How am I ever going to do this properly tomorrow?!" Victoria sighed wistfully in her despondence and irritation. She was lost in her indistinctness. ''What is wrong with me?! Since a month I just can't focus myself on a single thing!''

"What's the difference between now and a month ago then?!" She sat down next to Victoria on her bed.

Victoria was silent and bit her under lip hard. She wore a shirt without sleeves and Elsa saw her cuts. New ones were almost burned in her arms. The carvings were quite deep. Victoria wanted to scratch some cuts open in her restlessness, but Elsa quickly pulled her hands away. Victoria hissed in dismay, made a way out of Elsa's hands and scratched anyway some cuts open.

She shut her eyes in pain, but she loved the feeling, kicked on it, she never wanted to live without it. The crimson colour of blood predominated her arm within seconds. Victoria's fingertips were sealed in blood, and Elsa saw how a crimson drop dripped on the floor, on her white carpet.

Actually it weren't drops, it were tears.

''Stop,'' Elsa demanded.

Victoria ignored Elsa, the girl averting stubbornly her head from the blonde.

''Veronique,'' Elsa spoke authoritatively. She laid her hand under the chin of the auburn haired girl and turned her head in her direction. ''Thereby, answer my question.''

The sixteen-year-old rolled with her eyes. "Okay! Like a month ago I was at Oliver, and he gave me this drug or so. I don't know, I was just curious and took it, wanting to know how it is to be high. Before I knew it I forgot all my worries, it felt like I flied, I felt confident and all my fears were gone."

Elsa's eyes widened in shock and her eyes glided over Victoria's being in almost disgust and disappointment that she actually took them. "What's the last time you used?!''

''Yesterday…'' she shrugged a bit, while she stared at her cuts as her fingertips trailed over them.

''Tell me huh, how many times did you use in total?'' she demanded.

''Eighteen times I guess,'' she mumbled after a few seconds of silence had passed.

''Do you know what he gives you?"

Victoria looked up to face Elsa, her face blank and unwritten.

"Yes, he gave me XTC.''

**JACK**

"You shut your mouth about my father," Oliver hissed protectively.

"Aw, I see Ollie protects his father, how sweet," Jack sang in fake compassion. The sound of a front door shutting overshadowed his last words.

Hans walked in. So to see he joined dinner just like Oliver. "Hello Oliver, Jack," he groaned a bit low with a slight nod, as he walked in. He wore as always a formal suit. Oliver nodded slightly, while Jack just simply ignored him. Katherine walked in after she'd heard the front door had shut. She looked up when she saw Hans. ''Hey," she smiled brightly, before they gave each other quickly three kisses on their cheeks.

"Hey, how are you doing?'' Hans asked politely with a soft smile.

''Oh well,..'' Katherine began with a sigh. ''you know what the hospital is going to do with me upcoming Friday, Michael and I aren't really… close lately-'' 'No really?' Jackie rolled sarcastically with his eyes. The little guy continued 'It's not that your husband is fucking some of his employees'. Jack was normally a person who spoke his mind when it came to Jackie's snarky comments, but in this situation he decided to swallow his thoughts.

''and Victoria is shutting us all out. Oh talking about Victoria, dinner is almost ready. If you manage to get her out of her room without a yell and a snap, I praise you," Katherine sighed while she shook her head slightly.

**ELSA**

"Do you know what you're doing to your body?!" Elsa hissed madly in a low tone. "You sometimes smoke just to please your boyfriend, you cut yourself, you're mentally and physically depleting yourself with your ballet lead-up and now you begin like it's nothing with taking XTC! Victoria, wake up and fucking stop this insane behaviour!" Elsa whispered magisterially while she snapped with her fingers. She was so mad, she just felt her blood boiling.

But that was because she gave about Victoria, as one of the less people in her life.

''This is exactly why I never tell someone the truth neither my secrets; they always get mad when I do!'' Victoria cried in defence.

''What do you expect from me Veronique?! That I say 'congratulations for becoming high for the first time'?!'' Elsa almost yelled sarcastically.

''Don't yell at me!'' Victoria sobbed. It was like she woke up and got insight of how serious the situation was, what she was doing to her body. ''If Michael hears this, I mean it Elsa, he'll slap the hell out of me!''

''He slapped you once, don't act so dramatic,'' Elsa spoke while she rolled her eyes.

''You don't even know how it feels! You don't even know how scared you feel when someone lashes out to you, you don't know all what he does, what kind of dick he is! You know why I'm always gone or in my room?! Just so I don't have to see how he cheats on Katherine!''

Victoria had probably expected to see how Elsa reacted in shock, but on the contrary; the blonde's face was deadpanned. ''I know, he fucks some Monica.''

It was like she was gossiping with her best friend about the fuckboys that walked in their high school.

''You know?'' Victoria exclaimed.

''Huh, you should know…''

''I caught him five months ago,'' Victoria began. ''I came home early because ballet classes cancelled since Amélie was in labour of her second child. Anyway, I entered the living room and what did I see? My foster dad making out with one of his financial advisors.''

''I hope you don't mean Hans,'' Elsa joked and Victoria laughed before she playfully poked her best friend.

''No, it was Monica,'' Victoria continued seriously. ''She is part of his business team led by Hans. It exists out of advisors and important people or so, -whatever I don't give a shit about Michael's company-. Hans knows her, that Monica. He knows everything, I can just see it in his eyes. He knows Michael cheats on his wife and still he is such a coward to not tell Katherine, his best friend, that-''

''Well you don't tell Katherine the truth as well.''

''You think it's my business as a sixteen-year-old, as a child in Michael's opinion, to tell Katherine her husband is cheating on her?! Thereby if I tell that wife of him the truth about him and his lies, he'll make sure I'll be homeless that same day,'' she groaned. 'That wife of him', Elsa couldn't help but giggle.

''Cool how you subtly move the conversation subject to your foster dad's sins, but let's continue about you; I don't know if you know it, Victoria, but if you continue like this I can organise your funeral in a few months,'' Elsa snapped bitchily.

Victoria began to cry. ''Sorry yeah?! I won't take them anymore!''

''I don't do empty promises,'' Elsa groaned back. '''First see, then believe' is my motto.''

The door opened of her room and Hans stepped in. Victoria was lucky she had quickly thrown a sweatshirt over her head in the meantime to cover up her cuts. "Victoria, Elsa, dinner is ready," Hans spoke.

His severe gaze softened when he saw Victoria, now she wiped a tear off her cheek. "Hey, everything alright?" he asked worriedly. He leaned with his side against the doorpost with crossed arms. The strict shimmer in his eyes replaced for niceness.

"Yes," Victoria lied.

"If I can help you, tell me," Hans smiled softly before he turned around and left her room.

"Come let's have some dinner," Elsa sighed heartedly and she raised from Victoria's bed. She added;

''And if you think this conversation is over then you're wrong Veronique.''

The dining table was perfectly made; a snow-white tablecloth lay on the long wooden table where eight people could sit at, there were some candles and the cosy atmosphere hung in the air. The appetiser –which were coquilles in white wine sauce with as garnish a little green parsley twig on top of the dish- was placed on their fore warmed plates.

Elsa stared down at the exclusive food while she raised an eyebrow. Jack did exactly what she'd actually wanted to do; he picked it up between his fingers and stared at the green parsley twig before he gave her a quick glance that said '_what the F-_', but Elsa shushed him with her gaze.

"Finally normal food after months of living on frozen pizzas," Victoria commented spryly, while she cocked slightly her head to the side to jerk her long hair out of her sight. She was obviously making fun of Michael and Katherine. The girl didn't even bother to play it smoothly and subtly; no she looked straight in her foster parent's eyes with a devious cock of her eyebrows.

Michael and Katherine looked up and the two cocked coldly an eyebrow at their adoption child at the same time. Her foster dad parted his lips to speak to probably begin about that Victoria had to understand their busy -or how Victoria always said selfish- lives, but Katherine placed her hand on her husband's and demanded softly to look at her. The couple's eyes met and Katherine made a quick 'not now' gesture with her eyes. Elsa turned her head to Victoria, who was eating her coquille with a devious smile.

Jack cleared his throat and began a new conversation subject to keep the atmosphere fun and unserious. "Well Hans, how did you actually meet Katherine and Michael?" Jack asked nonchalantly before he finished his last coquille.

Hans looked up from eating his appetiser, laid his cutlery down and faced Jack with a nice smile that was as fake as James' nose job. "As you know I am a financial advisor, I studied Economics-"

"Is that hard? Hard to study I mean," Victoria interrupted him.

"No, I like maths and such," Hans answered quickly.

"I don't like maths at all.'' Victoria wrinkled her nose for a moment -to Hans' amusement-. "Give me literature, languages and I'll travel the world, alone and free," she spoke in that typical 'Victoria' way, before she stuck her fork in her coquille and took a bite from it. Elsa was already used to the girl's wise talk and so to see Hans as well, but her foster parents weren't at all apparently; their eyebrows rose amusedly. Victoria had never talked so openly and so much in their presences.

"No one wants to be alone, Victoria," Hans began softly and he looked for a moment incisively at her before he cleared his throat slightly and resumed his talk. "So about one and a half years ago I met Katherine and Michael. I told them about my job and Michael said he could use a financial advisor. And well here I am now," Hans shrugged before he twirled his wine glass nonchalantly in his hand so a controlled vortex arose in it. He inhaled the aroma of his Pinot Noir before he sipped some of it.

Hans began to talk to Michael and Elsa already heard it was about business in one second. Victoria apparently also heard it was about business, so she groaned bored before she turned herself to her boyfriend to talk to him.

Elsa decided to sit and wait till this evening was over, but when the main course was served something happened she wouldn't expect at all.

Thereby, the evening was everything but over, that was for sure.

**END PART I**

**CHAPTER XX PART II: deathly euphoria**

**ELSA**

The sun descended more and more to result in a beautiful sunset. How more the golden ball of fire began to slowly disappear behind the United States' most beloved skyline, how more the temperature dropped.

Michael put a plate you could call a true delicacy in front of Elsa with a friendly wink. She smiled sheepishly back.

A glass of white wine rested in Jack's hand, while he told amusedly a typical joke only grown-ups would understand. Then she felt it; a cunning hand was placed on her upper leg. She gasped silently in outrage when she discovered it was Jack who did it.

That little devil.

She turned her head in his direction and gave him a warning look that said he wouldn't dare to go further, but Jack ignored her, now he was too busy with telling his joke as the man wore a true poker face.

He was acting above the table gentleman and charming, but he was everything except for that under the table. She felt how his hand trailed upwards to shove the skirt of her dress up. He did it slowly, cunningly and temptingly. She almost jumped up when he trigged shivers down her spine that had to be illegal and before she knew it she let out a quick yell.

Everybody looked up from eating and listening to Jack, before they all raised suspiciously an eyebrow at Elsa. "Everything alright?" Katherine asked.

Jack moved his head to her. His eyes were filled with a devious shimmer. Elsa narrowed for a swift second her eyes at him, while she disapprovingly pursed her lips. "Yeah is everything alright, dear?" he smirked.

She could slap him so hard. She gave him a death glare, before pointing with her eyes down at her lap to then look back at him, eyes impassively staring in his blue ones. "_Stop it,"_ she hissed whispering through gritted teeth.

Michael and Katherine looked up, just like Victoria and Oliver.

''Eh yes, I'm alright…'' Elsa stammered, to answer Katherine's question.

Everybody was waiting for Jack's story to continue since he had stopped in the middle of telling his anecdote. "You want me to continue?" he spoke daringly to her with a grin. He knew so well the sentence had a double meaning for them two and she was sure she'd never known a person who was as cunning as Jack. She looked in response at him with a mortifying glare that said 'you sleep on the couch tonight'.

Everybody still stared at her and Jack in indistinctness, not knowing what to think of the weird gazes the married couple exchanged.

"I-I'm sorry," she spoke a bit off guard. Victoria cocked coldly an eyebrow at the two, just like her boyfriend who held Victoria's hand. Elsa looked at Oliver for a quick second, and so to see his face he knew _exactly_ what was happening under the table. She raised coldly an eyebrow in an innocent way to say 'it's not what you think', but she knew she _miserably_ failed.

Jack resumed with telling his story, as he looked forward with a blank expression. It was completely oblivious and innocent, but what happened under the table wasn't innocent at all.

Elsa gasped again and closed her eyes firmly when she felt he just continued undisturbed. He now immediately shoved her skirt up. She looked down with her eyes, not daring to move her head, while she cocked pissed-off her gaze at her right, where Jack was sitting. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, but she had to make it stop. If he was about to resume she knew she would jump up and now for real.

Everybody laughed when Jack was done with telling his joke, but Elsa did everything but laugh let alone smile.

Jack cheered on this beautiful evening with his beautiful wife like a gentleman. Everybody cheered with him. And within seconds his hands knew again how to find her. She turned once more her head in Jack's direction. He was staring forward with a devious smirk planted on his face, while he sipped some of his wine. It was clear he adored that Elsa couldn't do neither or say something about his behaviour. Her eyes widened in outrage when his hand made its way in her undergarment.

That was it.

"Jackson, dear_,_ could I speak to you, please?'' she began with a fake smile. –a cold undertone dominated her voice only Jack could hear apparently-.

A silence fell.

''Alone?'' she added in a hiss.

"Of course, my love," he smiled innocently.

As soon they had passed the door to the dining room Elsa forced him a corner and pointed pissed-off a finger at him. ''You can't just get into someone's pants when you want to do so! You can call yourself lucky my gun isn't in reach at the moment or you deserved a fucking bullet for your head and your fucking balls!" she whispered menacing through gritted teeth.

Jack licked his fingers off and Elsa felt like she'd rather wanted to disappear out of shame. "You taste go-" Elsa lashed out to give him a full bitch clap. She slapped him so hard that his head moved to the side in momentum. Jack groaned for a moment and turned his head back to her before he placed his hand on his cheek.

''You bastard!'' she hissed.

"Elsa, my love_,_ the door to the dining room is open; they can hear you." He cocked an amusedly eyebrow at her.

Elsa groaned heartedly, inhaled through her nose, -demanding herself to calm down- and then she exhaled through her mouth, before continuing their conversation in silence. Expressions were enough to say she was about to flay him alive. She made a gesture with her hand that said 'stop', a look that said 'and if you don't' and then she made a 'off with your head' gesture.

"I love you too Elsa, I love you too," he scoffed giggling. Elsa rolled dramatically with her eyes, staging it, but deep down she hoped he said things like this because he meant it. But again, her husband had to be nominated to win an Oscar for 'best actor', since the guy was able to shut his body language and wear a good poker face at the same time. "Calm down, when we're back in our apartment you may do everything with me to your hearts content," he spoke out loud in an amused way. And he was smirking again.

"Jack! The door to the dining room is open, they can hear you!" she whispered in dismay while she turned crimson.

"I know," he giggled. "Sorry El, 'kay?'' he apologised before he gave her gentlemanly a tender kiss on her cheek. ''Come, let's get back," he said and he grabbed consecutively her hand.

When they entered the dining room Michael, Katherine, Victoria and Oliver were all raising curiously an eyebrow at the couple. Elsa had the idea her husband finally got the message he had to make his game 'putting-hands-in-pants' stop. Katherine cleared her throat as the first to speak after they sat down again. "And, any plans for kids?"

"Yes, we've decided we want kids," he lied quickly, while putting his hand on hers. Elsa smiled watery, while she nodded in agreement, instantiating his statement. For a second she glanced at Victoria who was slightly rolling her eyes, since the redhead was everything except for a girl who was into 'family feeling'. No wonder when she couldn't remember the last time she had felt it.

"Oh! How many?" Katherine asked in surprise with a smile, as she laid her cutlery down and faced the two. She laid her hand upon her husband's.

Elsa parted her lips to speak. "Two_." "_Three." Jack said one second after her. They both turned their heads to each other in indistinctness. They'd clearly forgotten to arrange _that_ conversation topic.

"Five?" Katherine asked. She made of course the assumption that two plus three was_ five_.

Jack almost spit out his Pinot Noir.

"Three, we want three." Jack spoke affirmatively. He was clearly dominantly emphasising his own answer to try to overshadow Elsa. Elsa groaned heartedly, laid her hand on his and looked at him.

"No dear, we want _two_," she spoke assertively in a calm tone, although there was a deep groan to be found in her voice. Jack narrowed his eyes for second, parting his lips to protest, but Elsa shushed him.

''Then it better be a twin,'' Jack groaned back, looking in the corner of his eye at his wife, before he sipped consecutively some of his wine. The rest of the table chuckled.

Hans began cunningly, as he stared incisively at Elsa with a thorough and mocking gaze; ''Well let's cheer on the future kids of the couple Frost then, won't we?'' The way he gazed at her made her think of president Snow of the Hunger Games.

It made her shudder.

He was playing games so hard with the situation. She remembered his words of this afternoon; _'I know more of you and Jack than you want me to know. I know your marriage is fake, I know it's part of a new program of the ISA. If you think you can trick me then I ask you friendly to go back to the ISA academy.'_

Jack began ''Let's take three-'' Elsa glared at him. '_'Two_ kids, well let's say a twin and a dog, is that good, dear?'' he spoke.

A sly grin spread across her face. ''Oh but Jack, we only need one more kid, no need for a twin. After all I already have one child to raise;'' she began cunningly and Jack raised his eyebrow in suspicion. ''You,'' she added deviously and before she knew it the whole table burst out in laughter. Jack glared playfully at her.

''Oliver, why haven't we ever seen or heard of your parents?'' Michael began curiously in his CEO tone when they were done with laughing, while he twirled his wine glass in his right hand a bit so a controlled vortex arose.

Oliver looked up. He'd been obtrusively silent all the time. ''I don't have a mother. I've never known her. I live with my father,'' the teen shrugged coldly. He spoke laconically and almost emotionlessly. He added heartedly some words that looked like ''and with-'. The name he spoke was so heartedly that even Victoria -who sat next to him- couldn't hear what he was adding.

''It sounds like you don't want to find her back…'' Victoria mumbled and she moved her head in her boyfriend's direction.

''Yes, indeed. She didn't want me so that's her problem, not mine. Look that you need to wake up the past and search for your parents who don't even live anymore that's your problem Victoria. And even if they _do_ live, they left you to die,'' he snapped at her and Elsa saw how the colour disappeared from the girl's face. Victoria cast her eyes down as Oliver's resolute words carved a new scar in her hope.

''Who needs family? Who needs love?'' Oliver groaned heartedly in mock, but still every word had been heard.

''Everyone,'' Victoria began.

''Everyone needs it, but not everyone _wants_ it,'' Oliver groaned back.

Victoria was silent before she spoke once more. ''What if I just go back to the place where it all began? What if I visit San Francisco, my old parental home that's burned down to the ground? Maybe it'll help to cope with everything what's happened, maybe I'll find traces of my parents-'' But Oliver already interrupted her.

''If you want scars to heal you need to stop touching them.''

A silence fell.

''Well who wants dessert?'' Katherine began like nothing no word had ever been spoken about Victoria's past.

Oliver rolled with his eyes.

Everybody nodded and Katherine raised.

Elsa wanted to quickly sneak away from dinner. She excused herself, raised from her chair and walked to the corridor.

She needed to find Aurelie back for Victoria. She had to live, be somewhere, even if she was dead or not. And if she lived, she had to know her daughter still lived as well, was still waiting for her. But where to start with the quest? She'd seen a photo of the woman, but that was how she looked eleven years ago, as a twenty-nine-year-old.

Aurelie would be about forty years old now, since Victoria told her that her mother was twenty-five when she bore her first child –her-. Aurelie had changed of course; she would look older after eleven years. Elsa was scared the same vivacious shimmer Victoria used to have had also disappeared out of her eyes after all the despair she had been through on the sixteenth of July, 2004, the day of the shooting.

Maybe Elsa wouldn't even be able to recognise her anymore.

Elsa sighed deeply and demanded to herself she had to calm down with the idea of these wild plans of her, before she would start impulsively some new crazy adventure.

But she couldn't resist it to walk to Victoria's room to search for anything that could lead to her mother or father.

Elsa walked to Victoria's desk, which was one big mess. Wrinkled notes lied on the ground and a speaker stood on her desk. Ballpoints, erasers, notes, and other things were chaotically scattered over the surface. Elsa crouched, picked up a note, unwrinkled it and began to read. Elsa's eyes widened when she read the poem.

_Nemesis_

_Nemesis,_

_The daughter of the dark,_

_The shadow on the wall,_

_The blood on your hands,_

_The despair in you all_

_Nemesis,_

_The daughter of murder_

_The shadow of the day_

_The blood in your veins_

_Please take my innocence away_

_Nemesis,_

_daughter of Nyx,_

_friend of Hades,_

_enemy of Irene_

_alley of Aphrodite_

_Nemesis;_

_goddess of vengeance_

_-Victoria Leroux_

Another one;

_Why we don't trust people;_

_we know them_

_we don't know them_

And another one;

_Life gets so much better when you cut the negative bullshit out…_

And yet another one;

_It's hard to hide a secret that's written all over your body -Victoria Leroux_

And last, but not least;

_If we were all forced to wear a warning label, what would yours say?_

All the girl had written echoed disturbingly long in her head.

With every quote, every sentence, every word, she could hear Victoria's voice. She'd put her heart in every single one of them.

Elsa walked further to the drawer of her desk, pulled it open and she saw Victoria's diary lied in it. She picked it up and luckily it wasn't locked with a clasp.

She opened it and began to read the first page.

_-17 June effing 2o15- _

_Dear __secret reader who has opened the drawer of my desk to sneakily read my diary before I discover it__, _

Elsa felt caught, but decided to keep reading. It was the most original entrance sentence she'd ever read. normally girl wrote cheesy stuff like 'dear diary' or how Anne Frank did it 'dear Kitty'.

_A diary... An old school diary with Chinese font on the cover and so-called sepia yellowed paper. Really something for Katherine to give me this shit. 'Maybe it'll help you to cope with all what's happened in these past hard times, Victoria,' she added with that compassionate smile I hate. Anne Frank, __she__ lived in hard times, not me. Huh I can help myself. 'Which hard times?' I'd groaned back. Katherine: 'You know I mean your bipolarity, your past and getting for the eighth time a new foster family._

_What to answer...?_

_A diary is fun for girls who've just learned how to write and are proud with their newly bought ballpoint with flying unicorns on it, not for me. _

_Okay if Katherine thinks I'm actually going to write my feelings down in this shit thing, she is damn wrong. _

_I mean feelings, ha! FUNNY!_

_I have none._

_Bye. _

Elsa snickered when she read it. Really something for Victoria to write something like that. She wrote with a certain scoffing humour she quite liked. Elsa decided to flip the pages a bit to search for situations she was in as well. Apparently the girl eventually did write some feelings down;

_-3 September, STILL EFFING 2o15-_

_I'm almost trembling out of agony. That __bloody Elsa__ -who I really don't like that little stalker she is-, has just discovered __my best kept secret of all fucking time__. She asked it just like that! 'Do you cut yourself?' I was scared to death and I felt so small. I denied, but I just know she wasn't born yesterday… she knows everything. _

_The scene keeps on replaying in my head and I'm so scared she'll tell everything to Michael and Katherine…. Then I'm screwed for sure._

_Fuck me. _

Elsa raised amusedly her eyebrow before she read another day.

_-5 September, 2015-_

_I want dead._

Elsa frowned when she couldn't find anything more.

_-6 September, 2o15-_

_Okay, today was super fun with Oliver's friends like Lizzy and Simone and such. Meh I think Simone and I can become friends, she's kinda nice. I still don't know what to think of Lizzy. Anyway, Oliver taught me how to hip-hop! After that we kissed the whole time. Yasss bitch take that Lizzy who's constantly giving me some deathly stare when I touch Oliver. Hey it's my boyfriend, not hers… I think she should back off and not me! _

_Oliver said I could get henna or such a zentangle... cool stuff that henna. _

_I keep on catching myself at writing things down in this weird thing anyway. _

_Meh whatever._

_-18 November, 2015-_

_Today Michael and Katherine dropped me at Hans again. He's really nice to me but he has his mysterious sides. I have the feeling I can tell everything to him and he'll never look up with a weird compassionate face. He treats me like a grown-up as the first here next to Elsa. Talking about Elsa, she has become a true friend. She understands me as the only one next to Hans. I almost don't dare to write it, but I hope deep deep deep deep really deep down Hans and Elsa will get a relationship… I mean hey no offence but Hans a bachelor.. I know Elsa has to divorce from her husband that Jack then, but I just... I want Hans and Elsa to take care of me. _

_Hans and Elsa, Helsa. Oh hell yeah that sounds good! _

_Now all I need is a talent for matchmaking. _

Elsa looked up from reading. She and Hans? That was almost impossible right? Hans would never like her and thereby, he could almost strangle her now since she was putting her nose in everything but her business.

The door opened and Elsa looked surprised up when Jack stood in the doorway. ''Hey El, everything alright here?'' he asked gently with a quick wink. He approached her with his hands in his pockets, while he glanced curiously at her.

Elsa closed the diary before she turned herself to Jack, smiling softly. ''Oh yes I am... I'm alright, but Victoria isn't I guess,'' she sighed a bit while she showed him the diary with a worried frown. ''She is totally derailed when it comes to handling her life. Thereby,'' Elsa couldn't help but giggle. ''She wants me and Hans to have a relationship...'' She felt she blushed.

Jack stared blankly at her with an unwritten expression, before he snickered and in seconds the snicker became laughter. ''What? You and Hans? What a joke! Vic really knows how to match people who are practically North and South,'' Jack laughed while he came closer to her face.

''Well… we're also practically North and South Mr. Frost…'' she giggled.

He laughed. ''Oh come here Mrs. Frost.'' And before she could react, Jack pressed his lips upon hers. She snaked her hands to his neck, before trailing upwards to run through his hair. Trembles made sure she almost couldn't stand on her legs and Jack almost had to hold her in his arms.

His tongue touched playfully her under lip –he begging for entrance- and Elsa couldn't help but give in. Their tongues met and Jack took the lead immediately, stroking his tongue over hers. His hands found destiny on her shoulders, pulling her close to him. Elsa's hands moved a bit more down to cup the back of his head to deepen their kiss. Euphoria and the feeling of ten XTC pills running through her veins gave her an excited feeling. Her heart had never beat so fiercely out of love.

They walked backwards and Elsa felt how her leg bumped into the bed of Victoria. She lost her balance and when she fell, she quickly grabbed Jack by his collar, so in seconds the two fell upon each other with a quick yelp of Jack. The two snickered and before she knew it, Jack's lips were to be found on her lips again to passionately kiss her. Intrepid fingers tried to unbutton the upper part of his blouse, while he kissed affably her neck. She shut her eyes in bliss, and arched her back before she pulled him closer by placing her hand behind his scalp. A hiss in pleasure escaped her lips, now his nose in her neck made her tremble like a flower, rocking along in a calm summer breeze.

''Fuck you, Jack,'' she whispered in pleasure when he found the weak spots in her neck.

''Aw just when I thought you were about to replace the 'you' for 'me','' he whispered deviously with a wink. She couldn't help but giggle like a schoolgirl before she bended and kissed him quickly. But before she knew it, she kissed him once more quickly, and another time, and another but now longer and before she knew it Jack made sure her lips where nowhere to be found but on his.

After they'd broken apart from their kiss Elsa panted slightly; ''Maybe we shouldn't be doing this, making out on Vic's bed,'' while she trailed with her hand past the tie of his business suit.

''Maybe not…'' he sighed a bit, as his eyes averted from hers. Then he laid his eyes once more on her, his eyes filled with mischief.

''But look at all the fuck's I give,'' he added dark, while he stared her, his hands slowly making his way to the zipper of her dress. She shivered under his coquettish gaze.

''_None_,'' they both giggled, and before she knew it, he kissed her once more, rougher, deeper, his hands everywhere, just like her feelings for him.

Their kiss was interrupted when the door of Victoria's room collapsed against the opposite wall, because it was jerked open. The two snapped out of their own dream world and Jack's head bounced upwards to see who stood in the doorway.

Victoria.

''Okay maybe I do give a fuck,'' Jack whistled softly with a high pitched voice –like he was a girl- when he saw her face; it radiated everything but happiness.

-It was clear her foster parents had sent her to her room after she'd probably made another comment about frozen pizzas and always being alone-.

Her eyes widened in shock and she coiled a bit backwards when she saw the two private detectives of her parents making out on her bed.

_Awkward. _

She bit her lip to prevent letting a yell escape her lips, before a devious smile spread across the girl's features. _''Great, _just when I thought I'd seen all the weird things in this world I see you two making out on my bed_,_'' she groaned heartedly.

"It's not what you think!" Elsa spoke quickly, while she and Jack in the meantime sat down on the edge of her bed.

A sly grin filled with mock spread across the girl's face. "No indeed, I don't get weird ideas of you, lying on top of your...husband," she snorted while pointing at Jack, who raised deadpanned an eyebrow at his friend. ''Making out,'' she ended.

''But hey I'll go away so you two can continue to smooch each other from head to toe, I mean of course, just practically have sex on my bed, yeah why not?! I really don't need to sleep in it tonight or so,'' she groaned sarcastically while she threw her hands in the air and turned around to walk away.

Jack rolled with his eyes. ''Hey my little wag, listen to me.'' Victoria stopped walking and turned around. ''Yes indeed we kissed, but when Elsa fell on your bed she grabbed me with her… kind of," Jack explained calmly.

Victoria stared bored at her nails. ''Yes and the Street of Gibraltar is in three-hundred metres to the left,'' she answered deadpanned in sarcasm, before she rolled with her eyes and made her way to the door of her room when someone knocked.

Elsa laughed. She absolutely loved the sarcasm of Vic. Jack gnashed teeth when she dissed him, her absolute talent. When Victoria opened the door Hans stood in the doorway. "Victoria, I'm leaving. I see you soon," Hans announced business-like.

"Where are you going to?" Victoria asked cheekily, while she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Are you going to... Pitch?" she asked tactfully. A sly grin was spread across the teen's face.

Hans cocked coldly an eyebrow at her and for a moment both people wore the exact same expression, the same attitude. "That's not your business. I'm going home," he said calmly in a low menacing tone.

Victoria turned roughly around while she groaned out loud in her dismay when he dodged the question. She walked to her desk to grab a mug to throw it in her irritation against the wall -or just right at Hans, whose face wasn't amused at all-. Jack made his way to her and grabbed in a reflex her by her upper arm to prevent her from throwing.

"Calm down feisty pants," Jack spoke seriously, while he held the struggling teenager under his command. She kicked him and groaned in frustration, slamming his hand away, as she still tried to throw the mug at Hans' face.

Jack couldn't help but let go when she crotched him hard, like she'd always warned him for. Jack bit his under lip in pain but pulled himself together. She thought she could make her way to Hans, but he immediately grabbed her by her shoulders again. Victoria wailed. "LET ME GO-"

Jack turned her around so she faced him. "Victoria, look at me," Jack demanded strictly, while he put his hands upon her shoulders to then shake her a bit, telling her she had to come back to earth and make her conscious about her sudden manic episode. "But-"

"_No_, look. At. Me. _Now_," Jack demanded in parental tone.

Victoria lifted her foot and stepped on his toes. He hissed in pain before she released herself out his grip and walked in a quick pace to Hans. "I'll discover everything and I don't care if it'll become my death because I want truth, vengeance, finally a life! I know you have more to do with this case! You have contact with Pitch and if you dare to deny that once again, I'll throw ten mugs to your fucking head in stead of one!" she yelled with valour, her eyes spitting fire.

"I will discover all your secrets! All of them and I won't rest until I know everything!" Victoria menaced, pointing at him, before she shut the door with a loud _bang. _

She lowered to the ground, the tears running down her cheeks and she groaned when she made eye contact with Elsa and Jack.

''He's responsible for my mother's death.''


	22. Chapter XXI Pentagram

**CHAPTER XXI PART I: Pentagram**

**VICTORIA**

The front door of the Smith's was shut. Victoria just came back from ballet class and she felt tired after all the intensive exercise of two and a half hours. Her light brown cowboy bag hung on her shoulder and she wore a blue winter coat to prevent her body from getting a cold.

As she was brushing her long red hair, she walked into the dining room. So to see Katherine was gone and Michael was sitting at the dining table, busy with calling Monica about 'business'. He nodded at her for a second as a 'hi'. She ignored him with rolling eyes and walked to the kitchen to get a mug of water.

She felt high. Oliver had given her ecstasy again. The pills could make her fly for her feeling, make her Queen of the Clouds, but lately she felt how they only dragged her mentally, physically and emotionally even more to the edge of relapse. For Victoria the fun of taking drugs was gone; it was perfect for the girl to forget her worries for a moment, but when the aftermath arrived she felt more down than ever before.

Everybody of Oliver's circle of friends took the deathly pills, so she quickly joined the dance. Everybody except for Simone, who always 'skipped this round' and deep down she had respect for her.

She was completely in her own world and before she knew it she bumped in her clumsiness into the sharp edge of the counter with her upper leg. She cursed in pain.

Her eyes darted up and widened when she saw a woman with long auburn hair walking to the corridor, but Michael didn't even look up, he didn't even see her. Victoria could see a tiny bit of the woman's face. Several tears ran down the woman's cheeks and she looked upset.

The dizziness attacked body and mind when she realised who it was. Victoria fainted and just managed to support herself on the counter. Shivers ran down her spine while she stared with widened eyes at the surface underneath her.

''Mum?'' she whispered in shock.

**OLIVER**

Central Park was full of life; joggers passed him, people on bikes, people who walked the dog, as the list continued. The trees rocked along in the calm autumn wind, while the fresh air filled his nostrils. The busy traffic of Manhattan, next to glaring sirens and honking yellow cabs faded away in the distance. The tall apartment buildings of the Upper East Side stood proudly close to the edge of the green park.

He loved New York. He loved every avenue, every street, every square, every park, every neighbourhood, it didn't matter, the energy of the Big Apple always gave him this kick and there always hung some kind of vibe and cosiness in the air he couldn't describe. Irrespectively where you were in the metropolis, the creativity always made its way in his veins.

The popular boy sat with his hip-hop squad –that existed out of six teens of the age between six- and eighteen- on the bench where they always sat in their free time. He stared impassively forward, while the laughing of the others passed him and the giggles of the girls disappeared into the background. He wrinkled his nose when the smell of smoke assaulted his nostrils. The scent had lately almost become an assurance of being alive; when he didn't smell the scent of pure intoxication, life felt not worth it, just boring, and it had no colour.

Lizzy sat on the back leaning of the iron bench where they were all sitting on. He felt her hand on his shoulder. She would sometimes grab the cigarette that was placed between his lips to take a drag from it. The two best friends did it a lot lately, smoking together the same cigarette. She would taste just like him over and over again pure death disguised in euphoria, and over and over again she would feel just like him how intoxication took over common sense. She put the cigarette back between his lips, before she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and put her nose in it, but the black haired boy stared expressionless forward, not even reacting to all what she did.

Lizzy sang softly, half murmuring with her angel voice –since the blonde had an astounding talent for singing- 'Alive' of Sia, but he felt everything but that.

Life passed him apathetically.

Lizzy had exchanged her blue mermaid hair for her natural hair colour, which was light blonde. This time her –still healthy- ends gradually faded into the colour neon pink and he liked it. She changed her hair colour practically every other month, the hair dye addict. She knew which colours soothed her pale complexion and which not and because of that her new hair practically always looked good on her.

Lizzy's hair was pulled up into a high ponytail this time and her bangs were so long that she always stroked the long lock behind her ear.

He looked up with a glare when someone snapped with his or her fingers in front of his sight. He met the face of Simone, his ex. ''Hey Oliver, head in the clouds? You're staring with this dazed expression at nothing for more than two minutes now. And by the way, from where did you get that bruise above your eyebrow?'' Simone asked curiously before she pointed at it. Simone was the good girl of their circle of friends and the seventeen-year-old personally didn't like her at all with her –in his opinion- sanctimonious behaviour lately.

''Did you get into a fight again or so?'' Simone added suspiciously.

''You're not my mother,'' he groaned coldly. Simone raised her eyebrow in question, not understanding his comment. He sighed before he spoke practically the translation of his previous sentence; ''I don't need to explain myself to you.'' And he turned his head away from her to stare forward again. He took a long drag of his cigarette before the chemicals escaped his lips.

Maybe it was because Simone was his ex, or maybe it was because she was this social butterfly everyone loved, who the hell cared, but still the brunette wasn't girl he was in fond with. For two months they dated and after that he was done with her. Now she was in a relationship with Matt, a good friend of him who was also in his circle of friends, plus the guy followed the same hip-hop selection class. Lizzy, Simone, Matt and him were always together.

Oliver moved his fingers over his right eyebrow, while his eyelids closed. As he furrowed his eyebrows in pain when he touched the bruise, the violent voices filled his mind of the past night. He didn't want to be remembered of how it was to be nobody.

''Oliver, you can tell Simone the truth,'' Lizzy spoke softly. She probably saw him touching his bruise while he frowned.

''Well okay… indeed...last night I was in a fight,'' he began. All his friends turned their heads in his direction and there fell a silence to listen to him. ''Some guys tried to grab Victoria when we walked down the street at two AM,'' he lied quickly while he jerked his head slightly to the side to jerk a strand of hair out of his sight. Lizzy and him made eye contact. Her gaze was filled with disappointment since he'd told everything but the truth. He pulled irritated a 'what?!' face. She shook her head slightly before she grabbed the cigarette between his lips again and took a drag of it.

Lizzy tried to fix his hair but he groaned. ''Keep your damn hands off me.'' And Lizzy quickly pulled her hands back. He hated physical contact.

People just had to back off.

''You saved her?'' Simone asked curiously.

So to see they were in for a good story. He began to play it cool; he shrugged a bit, like it was nothing while he wore a complacent smirk. ''What the hell you want to call it, yes.''

''What did you do?''

''I just grabbed the guys by the collar of their shirts, threw them against the wall of the alley we stood in and walked away, as I held Vero's hand,'' he shrugged. Everyone awed, except for Lizzy, who rolled with her eyes and smoked pissed off further without looking at him. Thereby, she was everything but a Voliver shipper. He ignored her.

''But have you heard what Victoria has done?'' he began as a devious smirk spread across his face, now they were talking anyway about his girlfriend. Simone moved closer to him, just like his other friends.

''No, what?'' Simone asked while she was scrolling down Instagram.

**VICTORIA**

She shut her eyes tightly, leaned with her hands on the counter and whispered to herself she was seeing things that weren't there. When she opened her eyes and looked up the woman was gone. She ran to the corridor where the woman that looked like her mum walked into, but there was no one.

''Mum!'' she yelled while her eyes darted at every corner of the corridor.

A silence.

Nothing.

She felt the tears burning in her eyes. ''MUM!'' Victoria yelled at the top of her lungs while she opened the front door and ran into the corridor of the apartment complex. She felt dizzy and high, but she didn't care. Her feet didn't want to work with her and she groaned in irritation.

''Come back!'' she yelled while she made her way to the lift that descended down to the first floor. Whoever had stepped into it, she was too late to get the person back. She heard behind her how footsteps approached her. It was Michael.

''Yes Monica, sorry it's Victoria. I'll be right back,'' Michael began and he hung up. He grabbed her by her arm and pulled her away to lead her to their front door. Victoria constantly turned her head over her shoulder in the hope to see her mother, as Michael pulled her with him.

''Victoria, I'm in a business conversation, you can't just yell before running into the corridor, we have neighbours!''

''But it was my mum! It was Aurelie!'' she protested and she tried to make her way out of his grip, but he was strong. She turned her head once more over her shoulder and stared for the last time in the corridor.

Empty.

''You're seeing things that aren't there, Vero.'' Her foster dad groaned, while they entered the house again. She followed him to the living room. ''You're hallucinating.''

''Mais c'etait ma mère!'' she yelled at him in her mother language, French. She always did it when her emotions were reaching its climax. ''J'en suis sûr, parce qu'elle avait les cheveux roux et les yeux bleus!''

Michael raised his eyebrow when he heard how she rattled French like there was no tomorrow, while his eyes moved over her being. It was like he finally looked at her being. "What on earth do you have on your arm and hand?" He began magisterially.

Victoria coiled backwards till she felt how her behind bumped into the dining table and she quickly placed her hands on the edge of the wooden table when he came closer. Michael wanted to grab her arm to look at it, but Victoria narrowed her eyes while she pulled her arm back. "No! It's henna and it's beautiful!"

Michael narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "You've taken a tattoo without the permission of Katherine and me?!"

"It's not a tattoo!" Victoria yelled at him. "After two weeks it fades away!" she defended herself.

Michael grabbed her once more by her arm as Victoria groaned and struggled against him. She hissed in pain when his nails dug obliviously into her cuts. ''If I'm done with you-''

''Then what? Are you going to slap me again huh?! Fuck you!'' Michael's face became pale as snow when she'd spoken her words. She knew that one time had been an accident, but she will never forget it.

The front door opened and Hans walked in with his computer bag, ready for his appointment with her foster dad.

'My saver,' was all she could think.

**HANS**

He looked up when he saw how Michael held a wailing Victoria –whose hair was pulled into a high ponytail as always-, tightly by her upper arm. It was clear they were in a quarrel. "Hans, tell this dick to let me go!" Victoria exclaimed.

Hans chuckled while he threw the car keys of his black range rover on the wooden dining table. "Oh God, what did you do this time? Burned the house to the ground, drank alcohol, have-"

"A tattoo," Michael ended deadpanned for Hans before he narrowed his eyes at Victoria who glared back. The girl was on fire.

Hans looked up before his eyes glided down her being. "What?"

"Yes! Henna on her hand and arm!" Michael almost exclaimed.

"And on my shoulder," she added matter-of-factly with an unwritten face as she stared forward. Hans laughed when he saw her acted innocence.

''This isn't funny, Hans!'' Michael sighed.

He quickly cleared his throat. ''No of course not, it's really… serious,'' he spoke quickly.

Michael pulled her shirt away close to her shoulder and Victoria growled. "For the second time; keep your hands off me," she demanded. Michael ignored her and exposed her shoulder. In seconds a paisley was shown. It was drawn in a graceful way. It seemed to continue on her shoulder blade and then down her spine. Hans approached her and trailed with his hand over the Henna tattoo. His eyes widened.

Victoria groaned once again, not liking physical contact. "It's a paisley, 'kay? Just a stupid, normal -"

"Victoria could you show if possible your bare back please?" Hans asked laconically, although his gaze was penetrating.

"There's nothing there, I swear!" Victoria protested, while her eyes widened and they darted from left to right. Hans recognised the body language better than anyone else; she was lying. Michael narrowed his eyes as a sign he didn't believe her. "What?! I'm telling the truth! I don't know what your problem is, since all you're doing is using me as an exhaust valve! When I misbehave myself, you always react aggravated and that's just because your business is running in every way but the way you want it to, and there is a chance the Federal Reserve Bank goes bankrupt!" Victoria snapped at him.

Hans raised warningly his eyebrow at her in a way she'd pushed the limit here when Michael didn't answer back. "I'm so done with your behaviour, Victoria. To your room, now." Michael groaned before he jerked her out of his hands, forward.

''And I'm sick of yours! I can't wait to leave this stupid place!" she yelled at him, while walking backwards. She clenched her fists, before she turned around and walked consecutively to the bedroom before shutting it with a thud.

Hans sighed as he spoke to his friend. "I'll get her," Hans spoke determinedly before he walked to her bedroom door and knocked.

**OLIVER**

''This is insane, I mean Victoria has always been a rebel but a tattoo?!'' Simone exclaimed before she bit her under lip.

''Sometimes people surprise you...'' Oliver sighed apathetically with a short shrug. Everybody was still listening to all what he told about his girlfriend.

''Victoria would never do this,'' Simone defended herself firmly.

''Why are you protecting her, Simone? I thought she couldn't stand your friendship with Lizzy lately?!'' Oliver chuckled cockily before he cocked consecutively his eyebrow at Lizzy, who sat next to him.

Simone and Lizzy nodded softly.

''Henna has a red kind of orange colour, right?'' Matt, who wasn't a talker actually, asked curiously.

''Yes, normally it has, but Victoria has black henna,'' he growled.

''Black henna?!'' Lizzy quoted him. He nodded with an apathetic shrug before he took one more drag of his cigarette. It was gone and he threw it on the ground. ''She has some serious problems if the henna is toxic!''

''Where does she have it?'' Simone asked.

**HANS**

"Victoria, open the door please." His talking was almost overshadowed by the music that the teen was playing on the other side of the door.

"_No. Go away Hans! Just leave me be so nobody knows I exist. It's better for everyone trust me,_" he heard her groaning through gritted teeth.

He used another strategy than everybody always used to use; whining till she eventually came out of her room anyway with a face that wore a depression of which people asked if it would ever pass. "Look at the bracelet your parents gave you and read out loud in English what they say about you."

He heard muffles and she turned the music off before she walked to the door, but didn't open it. Instead of that, she leaned with her back against the door and sank to the floor. She read monotonously out loud. "'_Conceived out of love' and 'Victoria our proud'_."

"Exactly. You're my proud as well, good? And if you weren't conceived out of love dad and mum would've never given you a bracelet, let alone a golden one with engraving. Now come on, please let me in," Hans' under lip protruded into a quick pout, and he couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He always said 'let me in' instead of 'come out'.

It turned out that little hot head did listen to the first command, instead of the last one.

"_This is seriously the last time I let you in_," she sighed reluctantly before she opened the door, her green eyes piercing through the spit. "Sometimes I really don't like you_,_" she spoke matter-of-factly. She was almost joking around for her being.

Hans entered the colourful but most of all messy room. 'If your room is a mess, your head is as well,' his grandma always said.

Victoria resumed her music again and plopped down on her bed. He heard how she played 'You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You'. "You listen to James Arthur?" he asked in pleasant surprise.

"Yes, problem with it?" she shot bitchily at him, while she was whatsapping with her boyfriend, her fingers rapidly texting.

**OLIVER**

**(A/N) 'Bitch Better Have My Money' by Rain Paris**

_Bitch better have my money_

_Y'all should know me well enough_

_Bitch better have my money_

_Please don't call me on my bluff_

Simone, who still sat next to him, stared at the WhatsApp conversation with his girlfriend. The rest of the group was busy with talking or some warmed up. He heard how Lizzy began to sing 'Bitch Better Have My Money' in the background. She was sitting with the rest of the group on the grass field.

His fingers moved so quickly over the screen that he had the idea he was hip-hopping.

_Pay me what you owe me_

_Ballin' bigger than LeBron_

_Bitch, give me your money_

_Who y'all think y'all frontin' on?_

**Victoria: Great! Because of your henna shit, I just got to hear I'll be under house arrest till my death. Thank you, you dick**

He rolled with his eyes.

**Oliver: drama queen.**

**Oliver: oh yes and now suddenly I'm the bad guy because 'I pushed you'. Please go suck a dick Veronique**

_Louis thirteen and it's all on me, hitta you just bought a shot_

_Kamikaze if you think that you gon' knock me off the top_

**Victoria: yes you did push me, you always do! And there are more things I annoy myself about you**

''_Ouch_, my heart,'' he grinned cockily in a sarcastic way as he typed.

**Oliver: Wait till I ask for money after all those times you were allowed to use my XTC. I'm curious who will pay for that?**

_Your wife in the backseat of my brand new foreign car_

_Don't act like you forgot, I call the shots, shots, shots_

_Pay me what you owe me, don't act like you forgot_

**Victoria: You don't dare to blackmail me like you did when I had to give you those damned passwords of Michael**

**Oliver: Just pay me what you owe me. I know a way to get the money back**

**Victoria: What money?! You said I was allowed to use your pills, it was alright and such and there was no problem but oh now you're suddenly trying to tell me I owe you money?! What is this for dick move?!**

_Bitch better have my money_

_Bitch better have my money_

**Oliver: bitch you better have my money, I never said what you're typing above here. That's your assumption. Two weeks ago I said to you I want my money back. Don't act like you don't know or forgot**

_Pay me what you owe me_

_Bitch better have my_

_Bitch better have my_

_Bitch better have my money_

**Victoria: Wait, you just called me a bitch?!**

**Oliver: Yes, now go cry and run to your mummy. Oh no wait that's true, you can't; cause she's dead…**

**Victoria: FUCK YOU.**

**Oliver: did I tell you I truly love that dot at the end?**

_Turn up to Rain Paris while the whole club fuckin' wasted_

_Every time I drop I am the only thing you're playin'_

_In a drop top, doin' hundred, y'all in my rearview mirror racin'_

_Where y'all at? Where y'all at? Where y'all at?_

He lit another cigarette and took a drag, before smoke clouds escaped smoothly his lips. The damage to his body was as dark as an eclipse. He placed the cigarette placed between his middle and index finger as he typed.

**Victoria: Your mother didn't want you so if I were you I would shut your mouth about my mother because mine at least LOVED me**

**Oliver: so cute to see how you begin about me when you don't know how to win an argument. Bye Victoria**

And he went offline.

_Louis thirteen and it's all on me, nigga you just bought a shot_

_Kamikaze if you think that you gon' knock me off the top_

_Your wife in the backseat of my brand new foreign car_

_Don't act like you forgot, I call the shots, shots, shots_

_Pay me what you owe me, don't act like you forgot_

''What's happened?'' Simone asked, who had been read everything along in the meantime.

''That bitch just owes me some money and she's acting like she doesn't know anything about it,'' he groaned before he took almost pissed off another drag. Then he continued after the smoke had escaped his lips again. Simone wrinkled her nose when the smoke assaulted her nostrils. **"**Sometimes I just have to throw a crown at her head and let her know with whom she's dealing,'' he groaned. He continued. ''Victoria is playing tricks with me and she knows if I hate something than it's that. Plus, she's dodging me lately a lot. Well guess why?"

''She doesn't want or can't pay you back,'' Simone ended.

''Exactly.''

_Bitch better have my money_

_Bitch better have my money_

He walked to Lizzy, who was having the time of her life. Her voice, which had this slightly rough edge, plus her whole attitude as she sang was just made for the song in his opinion. As he made his way to his best friend he jammed along with the music. Lizzy looked up and grinned at him.

Simone plopped down in the grass next to the Aussie.

_Pay me what you owe me_

_Bitch better have my_

_Bitch better have my_

_Bitch better have my money_

She sang while she looked at him, like she was singing it at him.

He laughed. ''You devil,'' he snickered.

Matt tapped along with the rhythm of the song and Simone sang along. Lizzy grinned at her as they sang. Simone was almost backup vocal constantly singing 'bitch better have my', before Lizzy continued. They made a good team.

Oliver moved in the rhythm of the music. He loved the feeling of dancing; it made him feel alive. Simone and Lizzy continued singing, while Oliver freestyled on the beats of the song. He closed his eyes and only felt.

He couldn't describe his love for dancing, the feeling it could give him.

It was pure happiness.

All the movements felt natural, he knew how his body worked, he knew how it looked when he did what. If he conscious about something then it was certainly his body. He made a body roll before it was like an electric shock ran to his arm; it made a wave movement while he looked up like he didn't know what was happening. He pulled a weird face at Lizzy as he made his movement.

His friends grinned at him and he couldn't help but do it back. Lizzy lifted her arms slightly, before she made a graceful movement with her fingers, while she twirled her wrist for a second. She was the best at it.

Matt followed Oliver's dancing –hip-hop popping- and before he knew it, the two friends adjusted to each other with dance moves.

He high fived Matt when they were done.

''That. Was. Awesome,'' Oliver began before he helped Lizzy up and hugged her.

''I know right!'' she giggled. ''Simone and I should sing more. Simone?'' Simone looked up. ''Bother to cover Pretty Girls with me one day?''

''Yeah cool,'' she smiled.

He placed his hands on the sides of Lizzy's shoulders and spoke, his voice reduced. ''You have them?''

''In my bag,'' she whispered back with a grin. He grabbed Lizzy's bag with no warning and revealed in seconds the death making pills. "Simone, throw me a bottle of water," he demanded. He stared down at the red coloured pill. He then threw his head backwards as he took the XTC to then drink water out of the bottle Simone had just given him. He didn't think of what he did. He wanted to forget. He wanted to live in oblivion.

As he swallowed the water and held the water bottle in his hand he stared at Simone's screen. She was whatsapping with Victoria.

**Simone: I hear stories here about you, Vic... **

**Victoria: Where the fuck are you talking about? Don't you have something better to do than gossiping about me?! Just like you are completely normal here with your whole circle of friends who take XTC. **

**VICTORIA**

The redhead stared at her screen while she reread the message over and over again, trying to see logic in Simone's message that came out of nowhere. Simone was the good herself and deep down she was a good friend but Victoria kept on shutting her out.

**Simone: I heard from Oliver you have henna, the BLACK version. What's wrong with you? Thereby, you use XTC as well and don't deny it. Everybody knows it. **

**Victoria: You'd promised you wouldn't tell anyone and now everyone knows it?! You gossiper, you're even worse than Lizzy. Don't interfere yourself with me, Simone. I already know who my real friends are. **

**Simone: Seriously Victoria, calm down! I am your real friend and now you just have a manic episode… Thereby, your sweet **_**you- light up my world since 14-1-15-**_** boyfriend here, Oliver, was the one who told everyone about that! **

Victoria rolled her eyes when she saw how Simone used her status in Whatsapp_. _

**Victoria: You don't even know what it is Simone, a manic episode. Let me be -_-' **

**Simone: I only tried to help you... Well okay.., Bye then. **

Victoria went offline on WhatsApp. She groaned out loud. She was mad with Simone, Oliver, Michael, just the whole world. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, before she leaned with her back against her headboard.

Her boyfriend was talking trash behind her back...

**OLIVER**

''Oliver, you made some moves on 'Hey Mama' of Nicki Manaj and David Guetta, right?'' Lizzy began.

Oliver looked up from drinking water and he nodded. ''Want to see?'' Lizzy nodded in response just like the others. He walked forward and then turned around to stand in front of all his friends.

**(A/N)** **Video: 'Hey Mama' by DancetutorialsLIVE. 11:25 of the video. **

He counted down to three in his head, before his body began to move rhythmically, smoothly in an energetic way. He used his arms and legs fiercely to create sleek dance moves filled with power and speed. He used hip-hop that was driven by pure passion and ambition. He rolled his torso and shoulders smoothly, as closed his eyes for a few seconds. when he opened them a few seconds later, everybody's mouths were dropping to floor. Simone groaned she was about to _dance her feet off_ if she had to be as fast as him.

He used his arms, head, shoulders a lot, but his feet were his proud, his biggest asset; they were faster than lightning. He ended with a last smooth slide of his feet over the floor, before he stopped. His friends clapped almost numbly since they were heavily impressed. He couldn't help but chuckle.

''You're so talented!'' Lizzy admired, before she put her hand on his shoulder. He laughed flirtatious at her in response. Within no time everybody stood around him. ''Oliver you're more into sleek dancing, but I'm a girl and I want to make it somehow seductive, what should I do?''

''I see your mummy didn't give you any hips,'' he commented almost cockily, as his eyes glided over her torso, her flat stomach, down. It wasn't meant personally, since Lizzy did have some good hips, but he made these comments to everyone.

''What?'' But Lizzy's last words were cut off because Oliver stood behind her and pulled her back against his torso before his dauntless hands snaked down her waist, to her hips. His messy hair touched the side of her head before his nose slightly nuzzled in her neck and he sharply inhaled her perfume. He loved it to play games with her.

''These,'' he spoke huskily in her ear, his whisper smooth and low. His hands rested on her hips. ''Use them for God's sake,'' he began ominously. ''or I'll make you,'' he ended in a warning tone, although he simpered.

Lizzy giggled before she turned around and grabbed him by the collar of his grey sweatshirt to pull him close to her face. A dauntless shimmer arose in her eyes before she pressed fiercely a kiss on his lips, while she cupped both of his cheeks. Oliver felt usurpation by the shock that filled his mind, but within seconds his guilt feeling replaced for fun. Because hey, fuck Victoria and her sanctimonious bullshit, he needed a girl like Lizzy.

Extortionate and cunning hands snaked down Lizzy's body. He pulled her closer, while their lips moved in a rough pace, as their tongues touched and glided over each other. His hands were everywhere on her body and everybody who stood around them whistled.

Only Simone was the killjoy again since she groaned he was cheating.

When they broke apart his lips tingled. This girl was like a puma if Oliver had to give her cunning but certainly seductive behaviour a name. ''Just break up with that stupid Victoria, she's weird,'' Lizzy spoke dauntlessly, while blue perverse eyes found eye contact with his. She laid her arms in his neck.

''I have something better for our phoenix, believe me,'' he whispered ominously and he bent forward to whisper his plans with Victoria in her ear. Lizzy smirked amusedly before she nodded, their eye contact intense. ''Let's freestyle,'' he began, and as always he took the lead.

**(A/N) Video: Hey Mama dance choreography from Matt Steffanina. Start at 1:00.**

**(A/N) Song: Hey Mama by David Guetta ft. Nicki Manaj. Start at 1:50.**

He closed his eyes when the drum and beat of 'Hey Mama' sounded in his ears and seconds he heard how Nicki Manaj sang. He began automatically with moving his body, now the music entered his veins. He felt every beat, drum and syllable.

_(2:00)_

His friends waited for the hook to begin and as soon as it started, Oliver began to move his feet quickly. The seventeen-year-old used every facet of his body, every muscle, and he felt how every muscle was triggered to move. Now the drugs entered his circulatory, most of his senses seemed to work better. A feeling of euphoria filled him when he danced; he wanted to be independent, alone in his own world and he knew the XTC was working now.

_(2:14)_

His feet moved fast and energetically. The teen felt kick he loved. Lizzy made a back flip, before continuing to dance in her girly hip-hop way by using her hips a lot. Oliver laughed and challenged her by increasing the pace of his dancing. He felt how his heart drummed in chest, as it tried to keep up with the power he danced, with the pace he handled his life.

''You're so effing fast!'' Lizzy laughed, while the two competed in almost a dance battle.

_(2:25)_

''I know right!'' he shouted over the music. They danced closer and closer, the heat increasing. He was locked to Lizzy's blue eyes. Lizzy seemed to possess him with her gaze. He winked at her, bending close to her face and just when Lizzy closed her eyes, waiting for a kiss, he took his distance again took a step backwards. Her eyes fluttered open and he grinned cockily before he made a flare.

_(2:37)_

He was done with following the choreo, so he began to freestyle. He found a way to move even faster and he put his body on maximum speed. He wanted to go faster, he wanted to be the best. The ambitious teen was in for perfection.

Simone joined him and he had to admit that she was fast and good without taking XTC. Her blue eyes were clear and in the present, instead of his eyes which wore a glow of intoxication.

Lizzy was popping with her hips and he was convinced good old Izzy was back in the house. She couldn't stop smiling just like him. She understood him, she knew what he felt and that made her so likable.

He got an idea and before he knew it, he make a front flip. Everybody clapped and cheered, he smirking from ear to ear. He got an adrenaline kick like never before. His heart raced, his feet moved fast as lightning and he was completely in his own world. That's all he wanted, all he yearned for.

To forget.

He danced all afternoon, and he felt how his body was physically exhausted, but his spirit wasn't. He just felt the XTC running through his veins and he saw how he got a tunnel vision, but he didn't even look up when he noticed it.

He was too weak.

**VICTORIA**

Victoria narrowed her eyes when Hans made an attempt to shove her shirt away to expose the henna on her shoulder. He stared at the beautiful art. Then his gaze turned severe.

He rested his hand on her shoulder. "Victoria, don't lie to me, I know the henna continues on your back.''

"It's just a really small henna tattoo! I mean it-" Hans cocked an eyebrow at the cunning girl. "Okay my shoulder blades have henna…" Hans raised his an eyebrow even more at her in suspicion. "Okay! My whole back is tattooed! But no more."

"Can I see it?"

"Why on earth would you want to see it? Thereby, I'm not going to throw my clothes off in front of you," she groaned heartedly.

"We're like best friends and I'll turn around is that a deal?" he sighed while he rolled his eyes playfully at her.

"Pinky promise?" Victoria groaned monotonously while she still stared deadpanned forward. The girl showed her pink. Graceful henna patterns cascaded down to her fingertip.

"Deal," he sighed, hooking his pink in hers. He raised and turned –as promised- around. Victoria threw her shirt over her head to change herself.

"Done," she groaned heartedly through gritted teeth. Hans turned around. She had unclasped her bra but didn't take it off. She felt too uncomfortable. She firmly closed her eyes when the flashbacks dominated her mind. She remembered how the person's finger had run down her bare back, down her spine.

Then hisconniving hand had glided over her shoulder blades, and she'd asked. "_May the henna be white?_"

'_No, make it black_.'

'_B-but black henna can be dangerous._'

'_And white henna isn't real henna. It's body paint, Vic.'_ The teen had whispered in her ear, while he had moved her long red hair over her back, to her shoulder.

'_Please, only my shoulder blades and then in normal henna_.'

'_Otherwise?_' The voice behind her ear had been demanding and she'd flinched. '_Then what? Say it Victoria, tell me what you will do to beat up against me.' _She hadn't answered the manipulator. Then his hand had glided once more over her back. It had sent a shiver down her spine. '_You're so beautiful_.'

"Stop it," she hissed to the voice.

''What's wrong?'' Hans asked. She ignored him and closed her eyes when the voices entered her mind again. It was maddening.

'_Why do I need to have black henna? Why does my whole back needs to be tattooed?_' she had asked, while she'd turned her head over her shoulder. She remembered how he'd stared tenaciously in her eyes, his eyes darkening.

'_Because you are special.' _

Victoria opened her eyes again. The sentence echoed disturbingly long in her head.

She felt how Hans' hand touched her shoulder blade. "I can see the one who tattooed this knows his business." Hans groaned in slight disapproval.

"How does it look?" she asked in insecurity.

"Beautiful for people who don't know the meaning of the symbol, grim for people who understand and see it." Hans spoke laconically, but in his voice hid an ominous tone.

"I'd like to know where the henna symbol stands for."

"It means you're connected, well you're in possession of the one who said you needed to take it.''

Victoria gasped in half shock while she turned herself a few degrees, so she could see her bare back in the mirror. The henna cascaded down her beautifully decorated shoulder blades, down her spine. If she didn't know any better she would've loved the creation.

"Oliver_," _she whispered in an ominous tone before she narrowed her eyes.

"Also, it's a warning," Hans frowned, who hadn't anything of what she just said.

"How do you know this shit?!" She turned herself to him with a raised eyebrow. ''You have experience with it?!''

"You should know,'' Hans sighed.

Victoria quickly clasped her bra again and threw her shirt back over her head. She repeated her question. "For what's the warning meant?"

Hans faced her, his features unwritten before he spoke.

"Close death."

**END PART I**

**CHAPTER XXI PART II: Pentagram**

**ELSA**

She was about to bring Victoria to her ballet audition. There were thirty candidates, fifteen girls and fifteen boys, but the School of American Ballet only needed one girl and one boy, so the chance of getting chosen was more than small.

She was just putting her coat on when someone called her. The caller ID of Anna was shown. She answered the phone and brought her iPhone to her ear. "Anna.'' She hoped Anna wasn't mad with her anymore after she couldn't attend her father's birthday in Los Angeles, a thing Anna hadn't appreciated at all.

"_O MY GOD, ELSA! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I AM GOING TO TELL YOU!_" Anna yelled in her jocundity and so to hear also excitement. Elsa knew she was bouncing up and down on the other side of the line.

''You're pregnant,'' she gambled monotonously, as a joke. Jack, who was sitting at the dining table, looked up from mailing, and he raised an eyebrow at Elsa, but she broke eye contact with him.

''How do you know that?!'' Anna gasped.

''No wait you actually mean it?'' Elsa spoke in shock.

''Yes!'' Anna almost yelled and Elsa had to hold her phone away from her ear before she would become deaf.

''YOU'RE GOING TO BE AN AUNT! AUNT ELSA YEAH?''

Finally the words penetrated.

''Anna, I'm so happy for you!" Elsa giggled rambunctiously, while she twisted nervously some of her platinum blonde hair around her finger. ''And yes indeed, aunt Elsa,'' she chuckled.

"_I know right? Oh, I'm so happy and excited just like Kristoff! You are about to become an aunt, mum and dad grand parents, Kristoff a dad and I a mum! One big happy family!_" her bubbly sister squealed in her excitement while she giggled.

Elsa giggled with her. She tried to smile, but deep down she felt a sting of jealousy and incomprehension; she wanted to be a mum so badly, but she'd chosen to get an abortion on the child she had with Dylan. If she hadn't done it, she would now be a mum or she was about to become one, since the whole baby drama happened or well started approximately nine months ago. She wanted to know if her ex missed her, if he still thought about her sometimes. Before she knew it, her mind was going crazy.

Then she realised Dylan was in the past, the baby was in the past and she had just started a whole new life.

"_I have to go now!_" Anna announced while she giggled again. Elsa noticed she was really happy and talking about happiness, Elsa decided to shove the jealous feeling aside to the back of her head and grant her sister this; she wasn't a jealous selfish bitch right?

"Yes, that's alright!" Elsa smiled softly before she hung up.

"What's happened?" Jack asked curiously.

**(A/N) Song: 'Life Is Worth Living' by Justin Bieber**

_Ended up on a crossroad_

_Try to figure out which way to go_

_It's like you're stuck on a treadmill_

_Running in the same place_

_You got your hazard lights on now_

_Hoping that somebody would slow down_

"Anna's pregnant," Elsa said in an acted excited tone and she tried to put on a fabulous smile, but she miserably failed. She felt empty from the inside, literally, and she wondered if it had been the best decision in the end, getting rid of her first child. She averted her head from him and stared at the ground.

Jack raised and walked to her. He lifted her chin and turned her head in his direction so she faced him. ''There is something," he spoke seriously. His blue eyes were filled with curiosity.

_Praying for a miracle_

_Who'll show you grace?_

She sighed reluctant and parted her lips to speak. "I've just always wanted kids but... You know the story," she sighed wistfully. She was fighting against her tears.

''Do you regret the abortion?'' Jack asked softly.

_Had a couple dollars and a quarter tank of gas_

_With a long journey ahead_

_Seen a truck pull over_

_God sent an angel to help you out_

Elsa nodded and buried her face in her hands before she began to sob. Jack wrapped his arms around her and he shushed her softly. She wanted to reject him on the first hand, since she was convinced she didn't need any physical contact, but as soon she felt his warm and safe arms she couldn't help but give in.

_He gave you direction_

_Showed you how to read a map_

_For that long journey ahead_

_Said it ain't never over_

_even in the midst of doubt_

Before she knew it she wrapped her arms tightly around him like he was her life buoy. She cried harrowingly in his chest. ''If I could just b-be a m-mum. I want it so b-badly; j-just a gi-girl to hold in m-my arms, j-just so-someone to care about.''

He kissed her on the crown of her head. She continued and before she knew it, she was again talking about her ex. "It was just with D-Dylan, it was so ha-hard to cope with our breakup. I thou-thought he was m-my Prince Char-charming, my everything, that we wo-would get ma-married, have a family, but he just bro-broke up out of nowhere for my feeling.''

_Life is worth living,_

_Life is worth living, so live another day_

She sighed heavily, the tears making their way down her cheek before she continued. ''I was tangled in all my lies, and I still am. Look at the situation with my family! I can't lie to them forever." Jack hugged her tighter while he nodded softly in agreement. "See how this work can ruin your whole life? Your dreams? Your future?" she groaned heartedly. Jack used his thumbs to wipe her tears away, before he stroked her cheek.

_The meaning of forgiveness_

_People make mistakes, doesn't mean you have to give in_

_Life is worth living again_

"Elsa, your time will come, really. Now it's just... hard, but eventually everything will be alright when you find your Prince Charming and get kids. And when you have them I know one thing."

"What?"

"That they are going to be beautiful," he spoke charmingly as he smiled.

_Relationship on a ski slope_

_Avalanche comin' down slow_

_Do we have enough time to salvage this love?_

Elsa knocked on the door of Victoria's room. "_Come in_," she heard and Elsa entered the redhead's colourful bedroom. Victoria was putting her long red hair into a ballerina bun in front of her mirror. Some bobby pins were clamped between her lips and the teen frowned severely.

_Feels like a blizzard in April_

_Cause my heart is just that cold_

"Hey," Elsa began with a smile as she made her way to her best friend who smiled softly at her. She stood behind the teenager.

"I'm nervous, Elsa," Victoria spoke softly, casting her eyes down.

_Skating on thin ice_

_But it's strong enough to hold us up_

_Seen her scream and holler_

_Put us both on blast_

_Tearing each other down_

Elsa laid her hands on Victoria's shoulders, still standing behind the teen. "Calm down, relax, and just concentrate yourself on your moves," Elsa spoke calmly. Victoria's under lip protruded in a pout when she didn't manage to pin her long hair up. Experienced Elsa took it over from her and she immediately managed to put the bobby pins in Victoria's tresses.

_When I thought it was over_

_God sent an angel to help us out,_

"Victoria, you didn't use, right?" Elsa spoke warningly. She tried to get eye contact with her.

"No, I've promised you I wouldn't do it again, or just... try," Victoria mumbled softly while their eyes met, one pair being blue and one green.

_He gave us direction, showed us how to make it last_

_For that long journey ahead_

_Said it ain't ever over_

_No, even in the midst of doubt_

Victoria casted her eyes down when Elsa was done. "You know what I see in the mirror, Victoria?'' Elsa began. ''I see a very strong woman that can do more than she thinks. Much more and the keyword is believing in yourself, your dreams and don't lose yourself in the ocean of other people who try to break this beautiful and smart person, because that's what I see," Elsa smiled encouraging while she laid her eyes at the fifteen-year-old's reflection.

_Life is worth living,_

_Life is worth living, so live another day_

_The meaning of forgiveness_

_People make mistakes, doesn't mean you have to give in_

_Life is worth living again,_

_Life is worth living again_

Victoria let out a scornful chuckle and she turned around before she stared deeply in Elsa's eyes. Hers wore a scoffing shimmer and her lips lifted into a devious smile. "You know what I see, Elsa?'' she began in a whisper tone, her voice filled with pain. ''I see a useless, stupid, horrible, ugly monster that is not worth it to be here, that's what I see," Victoria groaned through gritted teeth before she averted her head from the mirror.

It was like the girl was disgusted of her own reflection.

_What I'd give for my reflection_

_Is a different perception_

_From what the world may see_

_They try to crucify me_

"Look at me,'' she whispered before she threw a glance at her reflection in the mirror. ''I cut myself, I can't even show my arms, I'm on drugs lately, I keep my biggest passion as a secret for my parents, I'm practically depressed, I'm bipolar and there are ten thousand other things where I'm disgusting myself for," Victoria spoke, and she glared at herself.

_I ain't perfect, won't deny_

_My reputation's on the line_

_So I'm working on a better me_

_Life is worth living_

_Life is worth living, so live another day_

''Stupid fate,'' she added in a low groan. ''Why me? Why do I need to go through this shit! Why so much? It's not even fun anymore. Every morning when I wake up I'm like 'another day to fight'. It's like I'm in a battlefield for already more than eleven years now.''

_The meaning of forgiveness_

_People make mistakes_

_Only God can judge me_

_Life is worth living again_

_Another day_

_Life is worth living again_

''Life isn't worth living anymore.''

"Victoria, listen to me. You are really beautiful, but now you are just a little closed blossom that has to bloom, a phoenix that has to rise," Elsa almost whispered while she looked deeply in Victoria's eyes. She hoped to see a smiling girl, but in vain.

"You think so?" Victoria asked softly with the voice that almost looked like to be in possession of a little insecure girl. She turned her face back to the mirror, before she cast her eyes beaten down again. ''I don't know,'' she mumbled.

"Yes, I do. I really do," Elsa smiled brightly before she wrapped her arms around Victoria, and kissed her on the side of her head. "Now, come on. Let's kick some ass with that audition of you."

Alvin Ailey Dance Academy was full of life; in practically every dancing hall were dancers. Some practised for upcoming performances, some followed dance lessons, some did some self-study, or some experimented with new moves, you could name it all. From ballet to hip-hop, from leotards to loose clothing, from pointe shoes to Nike shoes, and from classic music to beat drops, the dance academy had it all when it came to giving people a chance to follow their dreams and ambitions.

Elsa stood in front of a panorama window that gave sight over the dancing hall where Victoria was about to have her audition. On Elsa's right was a double door that gave access to the modern dance space. If you entered the hall via the double door and wanted to enter the changing room where Oliver and Victoria met, then you immediately had to turn right.

The ballerinas stood in a row at the bars, doing their warming-up. They stretched their muscles and flexible bodies with every pose. All the teens wore black leotards, pastel pink tights and leg warmers.

She looked up when messy black hair caught the corner of her eye. It was Oliver. "What are you doing here?" Elsa shot at him. She wasn't scared to hold back the disgust in her tone with 'you'. This was the first time she saw Oliver without his oh so cliché black leather jacket -which was shrouded in smoke smell and a heavy man perfume, so you didn't know either you had to wrinkle your nose or fangirl-. He wore a bordeaux coloured in an autumn tone and some black sweatpants. It looked very good on him in her opinion.

''Hey Oliver.'' Both Elsa and Oliver looked up. Lizzy approached the peer and stood next to him. The Aussie wore baggy grey sweatpants and as always a crop top. The hip-hopper snorted in disgust when she noticed the ballet audition in front of her.

Oliver turned himself to Elsa before he shrugged as he spoke. He dodged the question as always; ''I can better ask you; why are _you_ here?" the seventeen-year-old shot coldly at the blonde, while his eyes glided over her being in a disapproving way.

"Same as you; to look at the audition,'' she shrugged.

Then why did you first ask me what I'm doing here when you already know the answer?'' Oliver spoke snarky in a dissing way.

A cocky grin spread across his face when she didn't know what to answer.

The ballerinas walked to the middle of the dancing hall and positioned in sync to first position without help of a bar.

Elsa saw Victoria tried to not look at the people of the School of American Ballet, who sat all three on chairs in front of her. It would make her even more nervous than she already was. The people of the SAB judged the fifteen girls in front of them with their scrutiny gazes that escaped nothing, not even the slightest technique fault.

Elsa heard how some classic music began to play and the audition began. She sighed nervously.

A choreographer -a woman- stood in front of the group of girls. Her honey blonde hair was pulled into a high bun and her posture was a thing Elsa could only dream of; her legs were long and streamlined, she looked svelte, and a flat stomach dominated her beautiful being. She didn't have a boyish figure, instead of most other ballerinas who performed on top level like her of this demanding sport. Her brown eyes gazed magisterially at her students.

"That's Amélie Séydoux, don't mess with her; she's relentless," Oliver and Lizzy groaned through gritted teeth in unison. When the two friends realised they had spoken the exact same words at the exact same time they turned their heads to grin wickedly at each other. Lizzy and Oliver had a certain strong bond Elsa couldn't describe. She could see it in the way Oliver looked at the blonde; a soft smile spread across his features –so an adorable dimple arose in his cheek-, his eyes began to gloat and it looked like he tried to protect Lizzy.

Elsa looked up and turned her head in Oliver's direction before cocking an eyebrow at the guy in a way of 'you know her?'. Oliver sighed he had to explain everything. His eye contact was cold-hearted. "She's Victoria's ballet teacher and the mother of Faye," he groaned in a duh-tone while he crossed his arms, before he stared impassively at his girlfriend with his judging gaze, which was cold as stone.

Elsa looked at Victoria again. She began with an 'a crosse devant'. While she was in position, she tilted her chin in dignity so the girl's sharp jawline stood out even more. Elsa saw she tried to keep her center of gravity in the middle. Her feet were trembling out of probably nervosity.

Then she switched over to an effacé devant. Her gaze moved to the right to look for help at Faye, her best friend, who was as always in perfect position. –no wonder when you were drilled and toned by a mum like Amélie-. Victoria tried to be in same position, but she was wobbling on her feet. Elsa saw Amélie's disapproving gaze.

''I thought Victoria was some ballet talent?'' Lizzy asked almost scoffing.

''Yes, she is,'' Oliver groaned heartedly, also staring at Victoria.

''Then why is she trembling so much?''

''How should I know?!'' Oliver shot back.

"Quartième devant," Amélie announced.

Elsa knew the girls needed their pointe shoes -which they already wore- for this position. The girls lifted themselves to stand on the platform of their toes and performed the asked position.

Elsa heard how Oliver sighed and Lizzy yawned for a second. "Come, we're going, Izzy. Stupid and boring shit that ballet," Oliver groaned uninterestedly before he grabbed her hand. The Aussie nodded in response.

Oliver and Lizzy began to walk away. "Where are you going to?"

Lizzy didn't hear her anymore, but Oliver did. He turned his head over his shoulder and flashed a cold gaze at her before he turned his head back and disappeared. Elsa cocked in response an eyebrow back at the boy, even though he wouldn't see it anymore anyway.

She saw how Victoria got more and more effort with trying to not fall and just simply focus. She got withdrawal symptoms of not using drugs. She could strangle Oliver with her bare hands. This was his fault in her opinion.

Red hair caught the corner of her eye and she turned her head . She raised her eyebrow when Hans walked to the panorama glass wall where she stood in front of. He didn't wear a suit, a thing he normally always did whenever she saw him at Michael and Katherine.

Hans looked up and when he noticed her, he gave her a cold gaze.

Apparently both persons hadn't forgotten the obnoxious meeting in his apartment.

He stood next to her. His body language was as always frozen cold to her. The crossed arms and averted eye contact said enough. Elsa, as a HSP, always did it, reading body language of people.

He began to watch the audition just like her.

"You know about Victoria and ballet?" Elsa asked out of nowhere and she turned her head to him.

"Yes, of course," he spoke in concision, while he stared at the girls and Elsa couldn't see if he was focussing himself on one of them.

It was silent. In the background the music of the audition continued.

"Haven't you got something better to do than watching a ballet audition for God's sake?" he began mockingly before he chuckled scornfully. Of course the snake was talking about the case.

"I could say the same of you," she shot resolutely back.

Hans grinned amusedly, before he spoke cockily as he had his hands in his pockets; "Don't you have a case to solve? Evidence to find? Like you said you were going to do?"

"I'm near with solving this case," Elsa lied while she snorted for a second.

Hans chuckled in mock, clearly not believing her.

"I'm warning you, things will get heated soon," Hans began with a sly smile, still not facing her. "Scared of guns?" he added with an amused smile. He finally moved his head to her.

"Huh,'' she began with a scornful chuckle. ''you wished," she ended with a low hiss, turning her head to him.

"And arabesque," Amélie announced. The ballet teacher glanced to the side to look at the people of SAB, but they all wore poker faces. A woman whispered something in the man's ear while she looked at Victoria. He nodded in agreement before he wrote something down. Then he whispered something back and after a few seconds he drew a line through all what he'd written.

God knew if it was a good or bad thing.

Victoria swallowed nervously. She has always had problems with performing an arabesque, let alone a perfect one since Victoria was always in for perfection.

"What's wrong with her?" Hans mumbled suspiciously to himself when he saw how her feet trembled. People with eye for detail saw immediately the girl was in everything but balance. -mentally and physically-.

"If you knew her well, you would've known what's happening with her," Elsa groaned challengingly.

"Are you're trying to tell me I don't know -" Hans stopped talking when Victoria fell with a hard thud on the ground.

Elsa gasped. Victoria let out a yell in pain when she sprained her ankle. She immediately wrapped her hands around her right foot and the tears streamed down her face. All the other ballerinas looked up and lost position when they noticed what had happened.

''Victoria!'' Faye exclaimed. The girl wanted to run to Victoria but Amélie stopped her by calling her back.

''Faye, rester ici,'' her mother demanded in French with an authoritative gaze. Faye sighed a bit but didn't protest under her mother's command. She backed obediently off. Amélie stopped the music. Victoria sobbed silently with drooping shoulders. She looked small and fragile, now the girl was crawled up into a ball.

She wanted enter the dancehall to help Victoria –how impulsive-, but Hans saw her plan and before she could even reach for the doorknob he grabbed her tightly by her upper arm in a reflex to stop her. "Idiot, you can't just run in as her as a worried mum. Disturbing the audition won't help her now," Hans hissed. He looked deeply in her eyes and Elsa flinched when she saw the protective shimmer in his eyes.

Elsa looked at the relapsed teenager who still held her foot. Amélie commanded she had to raise. Slowly Victoria did, while the girl was crying in excruciating pain. She held painfully her foot up, like she was a lame horse that had lost its horseshoe. Victoria quickly managed to undo her pointe shoe.

Amélie demanded she had to resume. Elsa wanted to open her mouth to protest, but Hans shushed her dominantly. Victoria shook her head while she whispered between her sobs that she didn't want to anymore. Her shoulders jolted and she buried her face in her hands to continue to sob and wail in pain.

The faces of the SAB people weren't amused neither flurried by the occurrence. It was like their monotonous expressions silently screamed 'life is a bitch,' and 'c'est la vie'.

"I can't," Victoria whispered softly, while she wiped a tear off her cheek.

Amélie laid her hand on one of her shoulders before she consecutively placed her hands on her knees and slightly lowered to come on eye height with the teen. "Oh you can't?'' Elsa felt she had to gag when she saw the face of the blonde that was filled with acted compassion. ''Well then I shall tell you something Veronique: if you simply can't continue after a stupid fall, you don't belong here. Have discipline and move on," Amélie hissed bitchily in her ear.

Victoria flinched.

Hans flashed a ruthless glare at Amélie –not that she saw it-. Then out of nowhere Victoria's grief and pain replaced for anger and incomprehension; her eyes shut open and she looked dauntlessly her teacher in the eyes. She shot Amélie a mortifying death glare before she jerked the blonde's hand off her shoulder with valour to then turn around and walk -well actually hop since one foot was sprained- in a fast pace to the exit of the dancing hall.

She was about to pass through the double door -that was next to the glass wall where Elsa and Hans were standing behind-.

"What on earth is happening to her?" Elsa groaned in incomprehension.

"Don't you see, she has a manic episode," Hans groaned.

"Yes of course! Walk away, what a professional you are! Bye Victoria!" Amélie called sarcastically after her, while she cocked daringly an eyebrow at the fifteen-year-old, but Victoria had already turned her back to her teacher.

The only thing Victoria did was showing pissed-off her middle finger, as she made her way to the exit of the dancing hall. She passed through the double door and Victoria jerked them open in such a rough way that they collapsed against the opposite wall.

She was so in her own world and rage that she didn't even seem to notice her two best friends.

Victoria wanted to walk straight past Elsa and Hans, but Hans was quickly; he grabbed the girl by her wrist to stop her from walking away. Victoria let out a ferocious hiss when she felt how a person grabbed her. She turned her head over her shoulder to see who dared to touch her now. Hans pulled her back and she almost fell in momentum, since she couldn't find her centre of gravity on one foot.

"Whoa, stay here you," Hans demanded while he held her tightly. Victoria struggled against him and she tried to scratch him with her nails, but it looked like Hans had her in an iron grip. She couldn't go anywhere and that made her even angrier.

"Let me go!" She raised her voice warningly. As she showed resistance against his grip she panted. She began with yelling every second he held her longer than she wanted, and even now Hans stayed calm and assertive.

He moved his hands to the side of her shoulders. "Veronique, look at me, _n__ow_," Hans demanded authoritatively while he looked incisively in her green eyes with a thorough gaze.

It looked like she was going insane.

"NO! STOP TREATING ME LIKE I'M SICK, STOP ACTING LIKE MY BIPOLARITY IS A DISEASE, I DON'T NEED YOUR STUPID HELP!'' she yelled in her futility.

She struggled against him with all her might. She made another attempt to release herself out of his grip, while she panted for air.

''I FUCKING HATE YOU!''

Hans began to talk through her cursing since she just continued with yelling at him. "Veronique, look at me. Open you eyes and look at me," Hans demanded calmly, repeating half of his words. His body language was assertive, but his voice was penetrating and clear.

"NO_._"

''Look at me,'' he repeated.

''JUST FUCK OFF!''

You couldn't talk normally to her, even if you would want it so badly.

''No, I won't,'' he talked in an utter calm tone.

''LEAVE ME BE!''

''Only if you look at me.''

She still refused to make eye contact with him and she was about to dig her nails in his wrist, but he grabbed her arm as fast as he could and turned it in a swift second in an angle she couldn't handle, so she wailed for a second in pain. Of course he didn't want to hurt her for real, but he had no choice at the moment.

''YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING THROUGH-"

"Yes, I do; I'm just like you, remember." Elsa was impressed how he could stay so patient. Victoria managed to release herself out of his grip for a second, but Hans immediately grabbed her by her arm again. He pulled Victoria back to him to press her back against his torso and this time he held her even tighter in place.

He turned her around -so she faced him- and knelt to come on eye height -a smart decision so she wouldn't see him as a threat-. "Now, open your eyes and look at me. I'm not asking anything else," he demanded authoritatively.

After a few seconds Victoria's eyelids fluttered open. Hans and Victoria had the exact same colour green in their eyes; brighter than a peridot and greener than spring. She parted her lips to protest again and she wanted to lash out to scratch him, but Hans held her wrists tightly together to prevent her from hurting him.

A mortifying death glare was flashed at him for a second, -apparently to Hans' amusement-. "I opened my eyes and now what-"

He shushed her. ''Just look at me in my eyes, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Do it slowly and calmly. Trust me, Victoria." Their eyes met. How he handled the hothead was a true talent.

She was silent and stared at him. Hans' gaze was hopeful, but then she groaned anyway in a stubborn tone. "No."

"We'll do it together, okay?" he spoke softly, his perseverance relentless. He kept on holding on to his goal; getting her back to basics and helping her out of this manic episode. "Okay... inhale," he began gently before he inhaled through his nose. Elsa remembered how he'd said kids and teens copy your body language and tone. Mature people convey their behaviour on kids; if you are genuinely nice and calm, they will react genuinely and calm back.

Victoria first refused, but after a warning and magisterial glance from Hans she agreed with rolling eyes and she did what she was asked to. "Good, now exhale slowly."

"It won't work-"

"Don't speak, listen,'' Hans demanded strictly. ''Look in my eyes and mimic me."

This guy never gave up.

Victoria rolled once more with her eyes but listened to him. After approximately ten times of calmly inhaling and exhaling -while the girl was still held under firm grip by Hans - she began to cool down to his and Elsa's relief. Hans' voice became lower and calmer with the second as he spoke to her. It looked like Victoria was locked to his eyes and slowly she got back to normal. She was for one minute in almost relaxation, not blinking with her eyes.

The phoenix' eyes were peaceful; the fire in them had been extinguished.

"Good, now...how do you feel?" Hans asked. Their intense eye contact broke.

"I'm fine," Victoria mumbled absently and she cast her eyes down.

"First of all, -now I can finally talk to you-, Victoria, you should not show your middle finger to people, it's really immature and not professional," Hans began with a disapproving gaze. His voice immediately got back to its normal tone.

"You don't dare to tell me what I will and not do, since you're not my father," Victoria snapped at him, while she tilted her chin to glare down at him. "Come Elsa, we've wasted enough time here," Victoria spoke coldly before she jerked herself out of Hans' sudden loose grip to walk halting away with her painful foot. The girl almost hopped every time she walked, but Victoria lifted proudly her chin.

No one would take her invisible crown.

**END PART II**

**CHAPTER XXI PART III: Pentagram**

**ELSA**

Elsa and Victoria entered the apartment of Michael and Katherine. The two made their way through the corridor, to the living room. The sight they got was pretty concerning. Katherine was sitting at the dining table, crying heartbrokenly. She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders were jolting uncontrollably. She didn't notice the two had entered the apartment.

Victoria rolled with her eyes and hopped to the cooler to get a cool strip for her sprained foot, while she tilted uninterestedly her chin. She didn't even bother to ask what was going on with her foster mother.

Elsa followed Victoria with a parental gaze, making an eye gesture she had to be nicer to Katherine. Victoria flashed a deadpanned gaze back. Since Victoria didn't want to do it, Elsa decided to ask what was going on. She approached the sobbing woman.

Victoria made her way to her room as her face wore the weather 'thunderstorm'. She let with a tilted chin in dignity a heartedly groan out in her pain with every hop she made. Elsa remembered the girl's words when they had made their way back home by subway; '_one chance, and I've fucked it up._' Of course she had been talking about her audition. She hadn't shared one more word after that and it was clear Victoria was for once and for all done with everything and everyone.

"What's happened, if I may ask so?" Elsa began tentatively. She laid her hand on Katherine's jolting shoulder. She saw in the corner of her eye how Victoria hopped a bit back when she heard Elsa's words to stand in the shadow of the corridor. As always that little devil spied on everything and everyone. She leaned with her side against the wall to listen to the conversation.

Her green eyes were filled with disgust when she looked at Katherine, but Elsa saw compassion behind her ruthless gaze.

Katherine looked up when she heard the sudden voice. "Baby," she sobbed almost unintelligible. She wasn't able to articulate.

"Are you pregnant?" Elsa asked curiously.

Victoria cast neglected her eyes down. She let a sigh escape her lips in despondence before she halted away to her room and disappeared in the shadow that the wall of the corridor made. Elsa sighed for a second when she saw how Victoria walked away with drooping shoulders. Of course Victoria thought the Smith's didn't want her anymore now, so she had to move to for the ninth time in her life to yet another foster home.

Katherine's shoulders jolted uncontrollably and her chest was going up and down like crazy in her sobs. "N-no I'm n-not, and that's the problem," she sighed trembled and she finally faced Elsa. Her eyes were bloodshot and her make up was anticipated. Elsa raised an eyebrow in her question. Katherine clarified; "Michael and I have always wanted children, we've always had the hope that one day I would get pregnant, but we just got a call from the hospital...W-we can't get any kids," Katherine whispered in desperation. It looked like she had already cried enough tears to see her own reflection in them. Elsa laid her hand on Katherine's, hoping she could comfort her in at least some way. She felt terrible for hearing the news.

She felt like a heartless monster. She'd made a choice in her past Katherine would not even think of; she got rid of something Katherine would die for, would do everything for and she just got rid of it, got rid of something that actually had to be made out of love.

Elsa felt the tears burning in her eyes when she looked at her flat stomach. There had to be a full-grown baby in now if she hadn't taken the life away of her first child. Before she knew it she was crying along with Katherine. She didn't know if she'd made the right or wrong choice. If she had kept the baby she was about to be a mum now, but she would be all alone, with no loving boyfriend to support her. Now, she was free but it felt almost selfish she had chosen for herself, her own needs and not for the one of her future daughter or son.

"We thought that maybe if we would adopt a child it would fix everything in our instable marriage, we thought that we would become happy again. So we made the decision for an adoption child...that became Victoria."

Elsa processed the information before she spoke. "Victoria now thinks after she heard the word 'baby' that you're pregnant now. It gives her enough reasons to think that there will be no more room for her and that Michael and you don't want her anymore," Elsa said softly. Victoria had never told her this, but she'd read the words she'd just spoken in the orphan's eyes when she'd heard the word 'baby'.

"No, we keep her," Katherine said, while she wiped the anticipated make-up off her cheeks with her sleeves. It was silent for a moment and it looked like no one seemed to mind.

Then Katherine broke the silence. "We've had so many appointments with the doctor, the hospital, we've done so many things, artificial insemination, tests, everything."

Elsa didn't know what to answer.

The front door opened and you didn't have to be Einstein to know it was Michael. He entered the dining room where she and Katherine were sitting. His brown hair was messy and his eyes were filled with grief. He threw aimlessly his car keys on the dining table and stared at Katherine. Elsa saw the tears in his blue eyes, but he blinked them away.

He made his way to his wife to hug her before he kissed her on her cheek.

"Y-You kn-know, i-isn't it?" Katherine sobbed harrowingly. Her talking was muffled away in her husband's chest.

"Yes sweetheart, I know. The hospital just called," Michael whispered with a hoarse voice and he tried not to cry.

Elsa decided it was better to leave them alone for a few minutes, so she walked to the room of Victoria to talk with her.

If only she knew what she was about to see.

Elsa eyes widened in shock and she felt how her heart began to beat faster when she looked through the split of the Victoria's door. Victoria sat on the edge of her bed while she held a photo frame in her hands. A few tears made their way down her cheek. Her green eyes stared at the photo of her mother and her on Santa Monica Beach. ''I can't mum, I just can't be strong anymore,'' she whispered while the tears streamed silently down her face.

''I just can't!'' she exclaimed with a hoarse voice and she smashed the photo frame on the ground so the glass in it shattered. Hundreds of glass shards were spread out over the ground. The broken girl raised from her bed and stood in them. Victoria picked a big shard up before she rolled her sleeves upwards so her mutilated arm was exposed. The scars on it all carried a different pain with them.

All carvings had a different form, a different size, a different depth.

Behind every single one of them hid another tear.

Another story.

Victoria sat again down on the edge of her bed. She trembled heavily with her hand while she stared at the shard. She whispered to herself she shouldn't do it, but then she firmly closed her eyes and eventually did put the shard against her left inner arm. In seconds she was crying and wailing in the pain she loved. She never wanted to live without it. She kicked on it, lived for it. Several drops of crimson dark blood seeped down her pale inner arm. It drove her insane. She bit her lip hard as she cut further. She tried to not scream, but it was hard when you were carving silent cries for help in your body.

The tears streamed down her face, while she continued to cut. ''I hate you dad, I hate you mum. You all left me to die. Well if you want me dead,'' Victoria stopped whispering to herself to pant for air and she cried even more before she cut further. ''Then you can get it.''

She threw the shard across the room before she buried her face in her hands and sobbed harrowingly. Then she whispered;

''Tomorrow I won't have pain anymore.''

The room was filled with darkness and a cold air stream. A moonlight beam fell on the scarred face of a man whose jawline was as sharp as a knife, whose complexion was as pale as snow, and whose greasy hair was as black as his Nyx.

The criminal laid his eyes on the other man in the room and he whispered ominously.

''Be prepared.''

**ELSA**

Elsa tried to calm herself down after what she'd seen, since she felt how her legs trembled and she felt the tears burning in her eyes.

After waiting for five more minutes silently in the corridor she knocked tentatively on the door of Victoria's room before she opened it. "Hey," she said softly. She leaned against the doorpost as she stood in the doorway.

Victoria lied on her stomach her bed, while she buried her face in her pillow. "_Go away_," she muffled.

"No," Elsa said stubbornly.

''I SAID GO AWAY.'' Victoria raised her voice in a warning and paranoid tone while she tilted her head from her pillow to talk normally. When she didn't listen and entered the room Victoria repeated her words in French. ''JE DISAIS: S'EN ALLER, POUR L'AMOUR DE DIEU!''

And then she said spoke the sentence for the third time, but now in Danish, her father's mother language; ''JEG SAGDE; GÅ VÆK!'' Elsa, as a half Norwegian, could understand her quite well since Norwegian and Danish had a whole lot in common. In Norwegian she would've yelled 'Jeg sa gå bort'.

Elsa walked to Victoria's bed and sat down. Her long, slightly wavy red hair lay on her back. Elsa ran for a second through her tresses, feeling the softness of them. ''No, I'm not leaving,'' she spoke softly. She grabbed Victoria's pillow and lifted it. She saw her friend was crying, but tried to hide it. Her shoulders jolted and she let out a soft sob.

''_I'm all alone and no one loves me,'' _Victoria muffled in her mattress. She tried to blindly to grab her pillow -which Elsa held in her hand- to almost hide under it. She groaned in irritation when she miss grabbed. She looked up and snatched it out of Elsa's hands to then lay it on the back of her head, the girl still lying under her stomach. ''_Why do I even exist?!''_

''Because you're loved,'' Elsa spoke timidly while she moved herself closer to Victoria who was standing on the edge of a heavy depression, but Elsa was determined to pull her back. Victoria's sobs didn't stop and she also didn't react to her comment, so Elsa gave it another shot. "Hey, don't cry; Katherine is not pregnant so there's no reason to think Michael and Katherine will send you to yet another foster family," Elsa spoke softly, as she ran through Victoria's beautiful red hair. The redhead turned around, raised a bit and leaned with her back against the headboard. Elsa wiped caringly the girl's tears away with her thumb.

Victoria looked surprised up, but in a second her green eyes turned cold and detached again. They got the exact same shimmer as before Elsa had broken her mental wall. ''Open yourself up to me, Victoria. Just give the last little bit of love you've left in your heart.'' The hand that'd just wiped the tears off Victoria's cheeks trailed down from her shoulder to her hand to hold it in hers.

''You won't be killed if you do so,'' she added with a soft chuckle.

Victoria was silent and stared at her lap. Then she spoke; ''I want you to stay. Don't ever leave. Promise me,'' she begged softly.

''I can't, but I stay as long possible yeah?" Elsa spoke with a soft chuckle.

Victoria mumbled softly and insecurely after a long silence; "Can I have a hug?"

She nodded with a warm smile. Victoria didn't know how fast she had to hug her. "You're my best friend, Elsa."

"And you're mine," she whispered back before she gave the girl a kiss on the crown of her head.

''Promise me as well you will stay with me,'' she whispered.

But Victoria was silent.

**HANS**

The two men stood across from each other in the dim room. The two were both kicked out by the society and scarred from the inside. All because of one day, one evening, but they didn't show it, didn't show their real pain, their real thoughts, their real ideals, their real side.

It would make them look weak.

They were lost in the morality of the world, of truth.

Since in this case even truth was dark.

The moonlight was the only thing that seemed to be able to chase the darkness of the night away.

"I can't do this, I won't let you hurt her! I don't allow you to put a gun against the side of her head again, you hear me?!" Hans groaned heartedly in a protective tone. He tried to not show the apprehension in his voice, but most of all in his body language. He straightened his back to show he wasn't anxious but deep down the agony ran through his veins. Still he was determined that no one would take his invisible crown, which resembled his dignity.

Finally, Hans saw how the man who'd manipulated him for years took a step forward so the moonlight fell on his scarred and hollow face. His yellow eyes wore an ominous and dangerous glow. "You stupid fool, you know what the deal is and if you refuse, I'll shoot a bullet through her as well your head. And trust me, this time I have no need for sweet, stupid compromises like before, because that got us now, eleven years later, here," the criminal, Pitch Black, spoke in a sadistic tone. He showed no remorse and his voice sounded cold-hearted.

That was what he was, the only thing he could be.

"I have been waiting for this long enough and I won't let family bonds screw my plans up again like they did in the past. Now you're going to follow _me, my_ game, _my_ way, you understand?! It's time for vengeance. It's time for justice, and now in my way, on my orders, because I'm sick of playing nice," James hissed, his Welsh accent dominating his voice.

"Tomorrow I'll finally get what I want after eleven years of living in the shadows," the criminal spoke grimly.

Hans began tentatively he couldn't do it, but he immediately stopped talking when James yelled. "I'm sick of your whining!" He walked out of the darkness in a rapid pace to make his way to Hans. The moonlight they fell on the infamous man who society called a criminal, a glitch.

After years he stepped out of the shadows. The sun, not even the moon had touched his pale complexion after years of hiding, his greasy hair, which was as dark as his own sins, was combed backwards, and the scars he'd gotten from over the past violent years of being a murderer were exposed for the survivors of his cruel acts. The blood of hundreds of people stuck figuratively to his hands, his mind, his morals, but he didn't care; the criminal had no heart, he couldn't care about anyone.

Anyone, but himself.

James' eyes burned in every back, pierced through every mental wall, every assertion a person could yell. Assertions about not being scared, about being fearless.

But the criminal knew better.

He knew every person was scared to death for him, and he knew how to make people fall on their knees while they would beg for him to not shoot, to not cut, to not murder. Fear and nightmares were the only things he could give people and he loved it. Make people scared to death, make them shiver in their agony; make them feel how the darkness of despair crept into their hearts, mind and thought.

Let them accept their fears.

Hans got back to present and his eyes widened when out of nowhere James grabbed a sharp edged knife. It was pretty small, but could still cause a lot of harm and damage. He took a step forward, a grin spreading across the man's features.

A shimmering struck Hans' eyes when the knife was lifted in the air, the moonlight reflecting on the blade. A Wiccan pentagram, the five-pointed star, caught his eye. It was burned onto the blade of the dagger.

A groan in excruciating pain escaped the man's lips when he felt how the iron weapon was smashed into his upper leg. It cut into his skin and penetrated flesh, muscles and veins. The dark crimson coloured blood arose from his leg.

Hans collapsed subconsciously onto the ground before he crawled up into a ball. He felt how the warm blood flooded through his fingers and the smell of it -a copper, tangy scent- filled his nostrils.

He panted to get some air. It felt like he was a hundred feet under water while his lungs burned in desire for oxygen.

The shock filled his brain and the adrenalin his veins when he realised what had happened. He couldn't think.

Only of the pain.

He couldn't understand how Victoria found solace out of this horrible feeling.

Pain, it was in this case a localised, burning and penetrating feeling that ran through his whole body, like someone had electrocuted him. 'Pain', the word echoed in his head like a mantra.

Pain, it's said to be a warning for the body. For what?

Death?

He couldn't help but let a tear escape his eye in ache. He couldn't handle the torture he had been in for all those years with James, it had become too much for him.

He wanted to be redeemed. Redeemed of his sins, but most of all of a promise.

A promise that kept someone alive, someone important.

As he kept on moaning and hissing in pain James lowered to the ground, laid his hand under Hans' chin, lifted it and hissed unremorsefully in his ear. "_Don't forget our arrangement, we don't want an other family member killed." _

And with these dark words he raised and again walked into the darkness of the Nyx where he'd been living in for eleven years now. The criminal left the injured man behind who had lost everything and everybody in his life.

Everybody, but one person.

The moon had a dark ominous glow that night. It was darker than ever before. The moonlight shone down on the two figures that were standing in the bundle of luminescence, which was bright as Eos. If only Nyx knew it. Then, she would take it all away; the remorse, the last hope, the last call for help.

For life.

The hearts of the two people were waiting for their freedom after sitting in their imprisonment for years. They wanted to be redeemed after years of carrying dark secrets with them.

''We all have scars,'' the girl with the red hair and the green eyes whispered to herself. ''Only mine are visible.'' Her complexion looked even paler in the moonlight that embraced the phoenix. She didn't want moonlight, she wanted fire.

So she could burn in it.

''The vengeance of love will strike again,'' the criminal whispered ominously. He felt how the darkness shrouded him, embraced him.

After all, he was darkness.

He didn't need any oxygen to breathe; his covetousness was enough, he lived from that. He gave a glance at the knife where he had stabbed Hans with. It was covered next to blood in despair and pain.

The lost girl who fed her desperation with pain, and the infamous criminal who was lost in morality whispered at the same time, both more determined than ever before.

''Tomorrow I strike, tomorrow is the day_._''


	23. Chapter XXII part I: Get it right

**CHAPTER XXII PART I: Get it right**

**ELSA**

The next morning when she awoke she noticed Jack had spooned up against her. Her eyes fluttered open when she noticed his hand was cupping her breast. Her eyes glided down to look at her chest. She couldn't help but enjoy it and the blonde felt how a blush spread across her face. She wondered if he'd done it consciously or not. She didn't push his hand off her chest; she didn't really mind and she could only think it was cute and daring at the same time.

They were lying on the left side of the bed, which belonged to Jack. The window of their bedroom was closed, now the winter weather had turned New York into a Winter Wonderland. It resulted in sharp and frozen cold winds that howled around the skyscrapers as the temperatures dropped and dropped with the day. She saw how a watery sun had arisen to sport in the sky above the Big Apple's well-known skyline.

She thought about the case. In the end it had become more complex than she could ever think, and then not to forget that there were so many questions. She wanted to know if there was a connection between the money missing of the Smith's and the shooting of 2004 in San Francisco. She wanted to know if the paths of two stories, one present one past, were about to collapse into each other.

She wanted to know why Hans was so enigmatic, cold, and standoffish, but she just knew deep down he had things to hide. He definitely wasn't as holy as he acted in Elsa's opinion. She wanted to know what hid behind his smile, if he really cooperated with Pitch and if he did, then why.

Enough about Hans, she decided. Dylan, her ex, was involved in the case as well, but she just couldn't believe it was him who had placed the virus in the link. Because of that the person who was truly behind this could still drain money off Michael's bank account, even though he changed the passwords. She was convinced her ex was capable of everything but hacking. Also, why Dylan? Why specifically him? Why this super weird almost plotted coincidence? There were seven billion people in this world and yet Dylan, a man she knew, had to hack that damned system down.

It just didn't make sense to her, it was just so not credible.

Then Pitch; he and Victoria had almost certainly a past together and Elsa knew Pitch had a role in this case. Oliver, as his son, wanted Victoria to give him the passwords of Michael's bank account. Elsa was convinced Oliver had given as soon as he got the codes from Victoria the passwords to his dad.

She wondered how she could proof one of these three was the master brain of this case.

Pitch, the criminal in the shadows, Hans, the man whose past was as untold as the life of an unborn child, and Dylan, her former boyfriend from whom she'd never think he was actually capable of such things as hacking.

All three men bore an untold story, a secret with them, she could feel it.

She snapped out of thoughts when she heard raspy whispers. "Hey snowflake." Jack gave her a quick kiss on her cheek before he stroked a strand of hair behind her ear. She wanted to know if he meant something with it. She got a headache from all the questions she had. Always when they had this kind of physical contact she wondered if Jack liked her or if it was just 'harmless fun' -Mr. Frost's literal words-.

**(A/N) song: 'Got Love' by Tove Lo**

"You're in deep thoughts," Jack noticed with a chuckle. He removed his hand from her breast and it looked like he finally seemed to realise it. "Sorry for that," he mumbled.

"Oh, it's alright," Elsa sighed while she moved her hands over his arms, which were wrapped around her.

_When I breathe then I breathe into you and I feel you right to the bone_

_And I give what you give and we go even higher than we are strong_

A high desire to be loved by him burned within her. The love she felt for Jack felt like a hurricane that was destroying all the innocence she had left. Butterflies flattered like a playful vortex in her tummy and she smiled softly. Love made blind, love made happy, love made crazy.

_And the cracks in the walls covered up by the sheets we live underneath_

_All the sex, all the nights we stay up yeah we're stuck but we're more than free_

"Where're you thinking about? You're blushing, El," Jack noticed and he playfully pinched her cheek. She slapped his hand away and giggled almost schoolgirl-like.

"That's none of your business, Jackson," Elsa spoke stubbornly over her shoulder –since she lay on her side- and she crossed her arms.

_Got the world in our hand like a land_

"May I guess?" His whisper had been far too exhilarating for nine in the morning. When their eyes met for a second, his wore a somewhat devious shimmer.

_Got enough to make the ocean look like it's a pond_

_Got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops_

"You'll never guess it-" Her speaking was cut off when Jack's intrepid hands were to be found all over her body, now he grabbed her and pinned her against the mattress. She let out a quick squeal before she giggled his name when he sat down on top of her. She was convinced this was too much action, too much intensity, too much romance, and too much Jack Frost for nine in the morning.

_And we live like legends now, know that we'll never die_

_We got love, we got love_

His lips kissed her neck and in seconds she felt how he began to make love bites, while sometimes tenderly sucking her skin. A raspy moan escaped her parted lips as her hands were lost in his messy hair. Her heart didn't skip not one, but two beats and oh she adored it.

_Got enough to make the ocean look like it's a pond_

_Got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops_

His hands roamed over her body, over her breasts for a second, over her tummy, lower, lower, as the excitement was slowly bursting within her like colourful fireworks. Jack never broke his thorough eye contact with her as his hand moved down her stomach.

_And we live like legends now, know that we'll never die_

_We got love, we got love_

Then his hand stopped and her eyes were locked to his, silently begging for him to continue making her feel good. His eyes were filled with playful mischief and Mr. Frost was completely in his element. Even though he was dominating her, his touches were gentle and careful. "Do you want -"

_I can feel that you feel what I feel and I feel it all in your hands_

_When we touch it's too much and you're making me move, now make me dance_

_Going body to body for good saying nobody get's it right_

"More," Elsa demanded in her desire for him and she pulled him in for a kiss. She rolled over to pin him against the mattress and now she sat down on top of him, simpering slightly at him when their eyes met. She bended and sealed his lips with a long kiss. The goose bumps arose on her arm, her hackles stood up straight and she was shivering like never before when he found her weak spot. She needed him, she wanted him, she didn't want to wait.

_We don't plan, we don't care, got the fume and the flame, we don't let it die_

_Got the world in our hand like a land_

Jack's hands were fumbled restlessly with her spaghetti strap shirt, like he didn't know if he was allowed to go further. She felt comfortable with him, she loved him, she wanted him to feel her, so she allowed him to lift her shirt over her head. His eyes, filled with wantonness, glided over her body. The adrenalin was racing through her veins, and an euphoria that had to be illegal made her tremble.

_Got enough to make the ocean look like it's a pond_

_Got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops_

Jack raised a bit to lean with his back against the headboard. He pulled her body closer to him so their chests touched. His fingertips trailed down her bare back and cries of euphoria escaped her lips. Her hands trailed down his cervix to place her hand on his chest while he kissed her.

_And we live like legends now, know that we'll never die_

_We got love, we got love_

_'_'Fuck this,'' she whispered between their kisses. She never used such language, but this situation, this moment was an exception. He grinned wickedly at her in answer. ''Remove that simper off your face, Jackson,'' she warned his playfully.

_Got enough to make the ocean look like it's a pond_

_Got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops_

In answer that devil grinned even wider at her. She rolled playfully her eyes. His arms held her close to his chest and she felt amazing to be in them; it made her feel alive, loved, cossetted. He hugged her for a moment and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

_And we live like legends now, know that we'll never die_

_We got love, we got love_

He rocked her softly in his arms as she laid the side of her head against his shoulder. Their bare skins touching made her somehow feel so natural, pure, there was no wall to hide behind.

_Perfect like a picture_

_I know we are one in the same_

_Perfect like a picture_

_Even when they look through the grains_

''I love cuddling with you,'' she whispered in their hug. ''Thanks for always being there for me, Jack.'' They broke apart and Jack softly smiled at her as his hand caressed her cheek for a moment. ''You're my snowflake.'' His words made her blush. He used to give her this nickname back when they had been young, frisky and carefree like two foals that were playing with each other in a field.

Free, wild, happy and euphoric was all she felt.

_Got enough to make the ocean look like it's a pond_

_Got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops_

They got enough love to make an ocean look like it's a pond, got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops.

_And we live like legends now, know that we'll never die_

_We got love, we got love_

Their lips met as his hands were all over her body. She didn't mind, let him fool around with her, let him find and discover her weak spots, let him see what it takes to make her moan for him. Her nails dug in his shoulders when his lips were everywhere, in her neck, between her breasts, on her stomach.

_Got enough to make the ocean look like it's a pond_

_Got enough to turn the valleys into mountaintops_

_And we live like legends now, know that we'll never die_

_We got love, we got love_

She felt so head in the clouds that she didn't even notice it when he fumbled with her sweatpants, doing a cunning attempt to take them down. It made the two giggle when he was fooling around with her, as always. She rolled playfully with her eyes. His hands moved upwards to put them on her hips as she cupped fiercely his cheeks and pressed firmly her lips on his. She felt him getting hard and she'd never simpered so widely and confidently at him when they broke apart. ''You devil,'' she smirked.

_(3:20)_

Her eyes glided over his bare torso. She knew his posture was straight, but freerunning had given him at least some form. Her hands glided down his chest, lower, lower and Jack's eyes rolled into the back of his head in pleasure. He shut his eyes and bit his lip hard when she bended to his neck and gave him love bites as his hands felt her body. Both were covered in goose bumps. He was teasing the hell out of her by touching her everywhere God had forbidden.

Her heart was racing in her chest, her cheeks turned rosy, and the realisation of what was about to happen made her tremble in yearn.

She was in a frenzy and this was only the beginning.

_(end)_

Jack's mobile buzzed, since someone called him. Elsa she threw herself irritated off him with rolling eyes. She landed with her back on the mattress while she sighed heavily. She felt how her heart was racing in her chest, her cheeks reddened and she stared numbly at the ceiling, as the romantic memories of what just happened flashed through her mind.

That was close.

Elsa grabbed the sheets and clutched them against her chest to cover herself.

Jack grabbed his phone from his bed stand and to Elsa's irritation he answered it. He could call this person later back right? This was just their moment. "With Jack," he spoke timidly even though he panted a bit out of breath. You could say for sure making out is working out.

So to see he listened to what the person on the other side of the line had to say.

Then Jack's eyes widened. Elsa raised her eyebrow at him in suspicion. She wanted to know with whom he was calling. "More huh_?_ I wonder how that's possible… remember what I said about changing the passwords once more when we called three days ago? Oh wow you use another bank account now, deleted that mail from Hans which contained that link, and bought another MacBook?... Cool, finally someone takes advice from me,'' Jack sighed in a 'hallelujah' way and Elsa giggled.

''But Michael, we can't do anything about this. You should call someone like your financial advisor, aka Hans. Maybe he can help…Hans lies in the hospital?'' Jack groaned in incomprehension. ''What on earth did he do?"

Elsa looked up and listened attentively. "Accident in the kitchen with a knife huh?'' Jack snorted. ''Well he'll be back soon, I'm sure... Oh today, okay good. Well ask him to help you today then," Jack shrugged. "Okay…bye.''

Jack faced her when he'd hung up and spoke in a concerned tone. "Michael called; more money has been stolen from his bank account and this time I know for sure Victoria helped Oliver again.''

''That's not nice of you to say Jack, I mean you have no evidence –''

''Elsa, listen to me; she doesn't know I've put her promise to the test. When I called Michael three days ago I said he had to change his passwords once more. On top of that, I advised him to consecutively write them down and again put them in his safe. Well apparently my plan worked and once again my gut feeling was damn right; Victoria doesn't keep herself to her promises since if she did, no money would've been missing now!''

He continued when Elsa raised her eyebrow in question; "The promise was; we shut our mouths to her foster parents about that she stole the passwords to give them to Oliver, _but_ we would only do that if she would help us with the case. Well apparently she doesn't -to be honest she's helping 'the enemy' now- and so now we better go to Michael and Katherine to tell them about the stealing incidents and her ballet secret!"

"Please leave the ballet part out of this. If we take this away from her we'll find her dead on the side of the road tomorrow, and that is no joke.''

"Okay, we won't tell them about ballet then…'' Jack groaned reluctantly.

''Of course Vic can ask anything about the case in an innocent tone, since Michael still lives in oblivion about what his sweet daughter actually does behind his back…,'' Elsa mumbled rather sarcastically.

''Exactly. Victoria is smart, Elsa. She is fifteen and in her exam year. Normally teens that study at her private school graduate at an age of around eighteen. By the way didn't her headmaster want her to take Greek and Latin lessons next to all the subjects she's already following since she's bored because school is 'too easy?' ''

''Yeah, but IQ hasn't got to do with being shrewd enough to ask your foster dad about some money missing, Jack,'' Elsa spoke laconically.

''Next to the fact that she's extremely intelligent and gifted, she's also cunning enough to fish for information if it's behind someone's back or not. And then not to forget she's always spying on everything and everyone, I mean Victoria eavesdrops on every conversation, she's always trying to find out someone's true business and you just feel her gaze burning in your back when she's staring at you, trying to find out what your doing or to who you're talking,'' Elsa added in a groan.

''I think she's the perfect example of what the ISA searches in the new generation. We should tell North about her,'' Jack spoke thoughtfully. ''Maybe she'll get a lead-up at the ISA academy? You can't start early enough with training…''

''Yeah why not? Let her work with guns and let her get involved in violent situations! It's not that the child is scared to death for both of them now after a certain shooting eleven years ago or so,'' Elsa rolled sarcastically with her eyes.

''Hey it was just a random thought…'' Jack shrugged while he raised in a surrendering way his hands.

They were silent for a moment before Elsa spoke thoughtfully; ''Before Michael and Katherine even knew it themselves they can't get kids Victoria already made a comment about the fact that she's only adopted by them because 'they can't get kids by themselves for God's sake'. Her literal words,'' Elsa added. ''I mean is that spry or is that spry?''

''Yeah that's spry….Geez, I swear that kid scares me.'' Elsa didn't understand what he meant. Jack clarified; ''I mean she knows everything from everyone, never noticed that? But from whom did she get this intelligence?''

''I guess her dad then… I mean as far as I know Aurelie wasn't good at such things like studying and sitting down in a classroom… that's why she danced.''

''I'm calling the Smith's, now,'' Jack mumbled after a short silence. "Yes Michael, it's me, Jack. Are Katherine and Victoria at home?" Jack asked. ''I'd like to have the whole family together,'' he smirked deviously.

"Oh our sweetie of a Victoria is rehearsing her musical at Broadway?'' Jack spoke with a high-pitched tone in acted 'surprise'. He sounded like a girl and Elsa couldn't help but giggle. ''Oh okay she'll be home within an hour, perfect well we're coming right now. We have things to_ discuss_," Jack groaned amusedly.

"Good, I can't wait till you'll hear it. Okay, bye." Jack hung up and then turned his head in her direction.

"Let's take our vengeance on that cutie, El.''

·

**JACK**

"What do your mean with 'Victoria has stolen the passwords?!'" Michael and Katherine exclaimed in unison. It was clear they were one; disappointed, two; shocked and three; upset. It looked like dark clouds containing irritation, incomprehension and a lot of upcoming quarrels were about to enter the always cosy and oh so peaceful apartment of the Smith's. Ahem.

At every moment hurricane Victoria could come home and she was definitely going to destroy everything on her path once she would get confronted with all what she'd done behind Michael's back. And oh then he knew that it was bad lot, since the redhead was known for throwing her collection mugs at people's heads when she was pissed and this kid had a monition of more than ten.

"This is insane! She gave them to Oliver, and to who did he give them then?!" Michael exclaimed. He threw his cup of coffee on the coffee table before he faced his two financial advisors with an incisive gaze.

"To Pitch Black, his father," Elsa and Jack spoke monotonously in unison. ''It's Oliver James Black after all…'' Jack mumbled with a short shrug before he sipped some of his coffee.

Katherine and Michael's eyes widened.

"To answer your question now, yes, your sweet daughter is in a relationship with the son of Pitch Black, the most wanted criminal of the US and the UK,_ surprise surprise_!" Jack sang in a snarky tone. Elsa stepped subtly but hard on his foot while she hissed heartedly he had to stop being funny.

Michael and Katherine's mouths dropped almost to the marble floor, they became as pale as a ghost and to Jack's amusement he had the idea they could play hide and seek behind the white couches, since their faces had gotten the exact same colour in the meantime.

Michael groaned heartedly. "Katherine, this is the last time, I mean it! We can't handle her and I think we should-"

"Michael, dear, not now please. We'll discuss this later, I think it's good to wait till –''

The front door was opened and closed with a hard thud. In seconds Victoria entered the living room. Luckily she'd recovered from her ballet injury, so she walked normally again. She didn't even look up when she noticed her and Jack. She looked more down than ever before and her face wore the weather 'thunder storm'.

''Victoria arrives home…'' Katherine ended monotonously.

Michael raised to approach his foster daughter, as he called her back. "Veronique, now you listen to me!" Michael began authoritatively in a parenting tone. He laid his hand on her shoulder to stop her but she walked further, while she groaned a 'fuck off'.

''Now you turn around and face me!''

''Talking to me?'' Victoria turned around as her hair flipped sassily to the other side of her shoulder, since she'd pulled it in her characteristic high slight side ponytail. An innocent, but at the same time cunning and underhand smirk was planted on the girl's face while her green eyes darkened in a grim way.

She wanted to walk away after her words, -since she didn't listen to the name 'Veronique'- but Michael grabbed her arm and stopped her. Victoria turned her head over her shoulder with a hiss that was almost cat-like.

"You've stolen the passwords of my bank account?!" he yelled at her in his futility. Victoria looked up and the colour drained away from her face. It was clear she got a mini heart attack. She narrowed her eyes at Elsa and Jack till they were nothing more but slits. Jack waved innocently at her while he whispered. ''If you don't keep yourself to your promises then we don't as well.''

Victoria turned rather slowly her head back to Michael –her red hair moving from shoulder again-. She stood frozen to the ground, since she'd never expected this would happen. She parted her lips to protest, lie or tell an excuse but Michael already spoke; "I am done with you! I don't need to hear an excuse, you are under house arrest!" he yelled at her while he glared down at her.

Victoria acted like she didn't hear him; in the meantime she'd grabbed cheekily her iPhone again to WhatsApp with friends –as always-. Then she grabbed her ear buds and put them in to listen to music –and once more, as always, since this child was always to be found with her phone in her hands-.

Michael snatched her iPhone 6 out of her hands and jerked her ear buds out of her ears. She wailed in pain –since the newest Apple ear buds surely hurt when you jerked them out of your ears-, looked up and protested. ''Give me my phone back!''

''No, I confiscate it for two months,'' Michael groaned determinedly while he put it in the chest pocket of his suit. Victoria's mouth dropped in dismay while she echoed in disbelief. ''two months?!''.

''I wish you die,'' she hissed pissed-off at him.

''To your room Veronique, now,'' Michael spoke in his CEO tone. Victoria crossed her arms and kept standing where she stood. Michael cocked an eyebrow at her when she didn't follow his command.

''What, should I feel addressed now?'' Victoria snickered spryly. ''I mean yell at Veronique, my name is Victoria,'' she spoke deviously. Jack whistled softly in an amused way. Michael rolled with his eyes, grabbed her by her arm and pulled her to her room. She tried to free herself out of his grip, but she didn't manage to do so.

"You dick-heads," Victoria whispered quickly over her shoulder at Elsa and Jack, before Michael pulled her further to her room. ''You hurt me!'' she wailed in pain at her foster dad when he held her tightly by her wrist.

Elsa saw how Michael opened the door of her bedroom and jerked her into it. He'd done it so hard that she collapsed on the ground in momentum and crawled slightly backwards, her red hair falling slightly in front of her face. Michael gave her one more glare before he closed the door with a _bang _and locked it. Victoria had seemed to raise to run to the door since she was now banging with her fists on it while yelling to let her out.

He talked to the door, as the girl's protest continued in the background. "You're in serious trouble and if you don't change your behaviour and attitude quickly, you can be sure you won't be here till the end of the month!''

"_Everything is better than being in this hell hole of selfish assholes who only think of their fucking Federal Reserve Bank! I hate you, I hate your wife, I hate this place, I hate my entire life!_" Victoria yelled back at Michael. Her voice sounded hoarse because of all the yelling.

"_YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME, YOU HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE OF HOW I FEEL AND YOU NEVER WILL!"_ And as forecasted, she consecutively threw a mug –probably the one she'd first wanted to throw at Hans' head- against her bedroom door. Everybody closed firmly her eyes and flinched when they heard how it shattered in thousands of shards on the ground. And that was one mug less.

Nine to go.

Michael sighed wistfully in his despondency. Elsa saw he didn't know how to handle her anymore. Nothing helped, every time he and Victoria would end up in a quarrel. Victoria's depressions, her aggressive behaviour and her manic episodes became worse with the day and Elsa was scared that maybe one day Victoria would cut herself so badly that she had to be taken to the hospital.

**(A/N) song: 'Get It Right' by Glee**

_(intro)_

She tried to push the grim thought away as she spoke. "Jack, we have to go. It's a lost case if I talk to her. We have a case to solve and she is about to shoot us anyway," Elsa groaned heartedly, while she put her cup of tea down on the glass coffee table and folded her hands on her lap.

"Yes, let's head home," Jack sighed along with her, while he laid his hand on her upper leg before he rubbed it slightly with his hand.

**VICTORIA**

_What have I done? I wish I could run__  
__Away from this ship going under_

She ran restlessly through her auburn hair in her rage, eyes darting at every single thing she could possibly throw at the wall, the door, someone, as she paced through her room. Voices in her head were screaming, yelling, common sense wasn't working anymore and it became maddening.

_Just trying to help, hurt everyone else__  
__Now I feel the weight of the world is__  
__On my shoulders_

A wave of nausea attacked her when a scream filled her mind. Before she realised it she collapsed against the wall while she tried to keep standing on her legs, which felt like they were boneless, made out of jelly, made out of nothing. That voice, that scream. It was her mother's. It was the scream she'd heard when that criminal shot her mother. The flashback of the shooting seemed so real that it scared her more than anything.

The tears began to run down her cheeks. She felt dizzy, derailed in life and desperate. Desperate for a family, desperate for love.

_What can you do when your good isn't good enough__  
__When all that you touch tumbles down__  
__'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things__  
__I just wanna fix it somehow_

She could only sob, even when she was convinced it made her weak. The tears blurred her sight, and a headache arose because of all the crying. Every time a tear would escape her eyes, she had one star less in them, one light less.

Before she would know it the cosmos of life in them would be lifeless, an open space, a lacuna of silence, and all you would be able to see was darkness. Space without planets and stars was empty.

It was dead.

_But how many it times will it take?__  
__Oh, how many times will it take for me?__  
__To get it right__  
__To get it right_

If only Eos, goddess of day, could give her morals. If only Nyx, goddess of night, could burn her sins so people would stop seeing her as a complicated and rebellious teen. If only Aphrodite, goddess of love, could tell her who wouldn't leave her in the end. If only Nemesis, goddess of vengeance, could stop taking her revenge. If only Eirene, goddess of peace, could give her some. If only she could drink from the Lethe, river of Oblivion, to forget.

And if only Hera, goddess of family, could give her one.

_Can I start again with my faith shaken?__  
__'Cause I can't go back and undo this_

She walked to her desk and threw all the poems she'd ever made on the ground. The papers whirled through the air down to the floor. It was like they were light as feathers, but the messages in the poems were heavy as stone. She grabbed another mug from her desk and threw it at her door. The crockery broke in thousand pieces and shards. Another one broken.

Now it was just like her heart.

_I just have to stay and face my mistakes__  
__But if I get stronger and wiser__  
__I'll get through this_

She thought she was weak; she still cried, she still gave a damn fuck about the world and she didn't understand why, since life could only give you despair, it never gave,

It only took.

The girl leaned with her back against the door to sink down the floor. She pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them. She shut her eyes firmly while she rocked herself softly. The huddled figure was the only living soul that filled the room of the orphan.

_What can you do when your good isn't good enough?__  
__When all that you touch tumbles down?_

She wanted to dance her feelings away but she couldn't; the Smith's were not allowed to know about ballet. She wanted to wear short sleeves in the summer, but she couldn't; the world wasn't allowed to know of her self-harm. Everything she touched turned into dust, everything she touched tumbled down. Everything she cared about was about to vanish into air.

_'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things__  
__I just wanna fix it somehow_

She was sitting between the shards of the two mugs she'd thrown against the wall. She didn't feel the pain of them, she was used to it by now and if she did feel it, it was an adrenaline kick, a calming feeling entering her mind. She knew she would never lose her scars, she would never lose her cuts.

She would carry them till her death.

_But how many it times will it take?_

''Oh dad, if you could just see me now…'' she whispered sorrowfully in her despondency. ''They_ did_ take my crown.'' Her smile hid her thoughts, her feelings, her past, her pain. Everyday she had to swallow her proud, everyday she had to lift her chin and act like she didn't care.

People should know the truth.

She did care.

_Oh, how many times will it take for me?__  
__To get it right_

''Mum, I miss you. Come back I beg you,'' she pleaded. She raised and walked to her mirror. She needed to cut something, herself, her hair, she didn't care. But then she remembered Elsa words 'conceal it, don't feel it'.

Huh indeed, don't feel.

_So I throw up my fist__  
__I will punch in the air__  
__And accept the truth that sometimes life isn't fair_

She stared at a girl whose complexion had a gypsum glow. Her cheeks blushed into the colour of a delicate pastel pink rose. Almond and narrow shaped eyes, which had a smaragdine glow, stared at her reflection. She used to love her eyes back when she was happy. They used to be so beautiful, they used to be so enchanting.

They used to bear more life than spring.

_I'll send out a wish__  
__I'll send up a prayer_

The girl that stood in her reflection was literally and figuratively covered with scars from head to toe. She knew what she was, but she didn't know who she was. She realised she had to accept the truth that life wasn't fair.

_And finally, someone will see__  
__How much I care_

She wanted to be loved and liked by everyone, but then she realised that was an impossible thing. Not a single person, not a single thing on earth was loved by everyone. Even love had an enemy; vengeance.

'Today is the day,' she thought. Today is my last day.'

She saw how someone shoved an envelope under her door. Her eyes widened in shock when she opened and read it. She felt how a heat wave attacked her and her heart had never pounded so hard in her chest. '_For Victoria' _was written on it. It was a handwriting she couldn't recognise.

_What can you do when your good isn't good enough?__  
__When all that you touch tumbles down?__  
__'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things__  
__I just wanna fix it somehow_

_My dear Victoria,_

_I've been trying to find you for eleven years and here I am, I've found you finally. I can't explain everything, what has happened, why I've left you, but you must know I'll be there for you when you need me. I've heard you played in that musical on Broadway, I'll be there tomorrow. When you see me, you know it's me. I love you and everything is going to be alright._

_You'll soon have a new home._

_-Your dad_

_But how many it times will it take?__  
__Oh, how many times will it take?_

Colour drained out of her face, eyes were widened in shock and she stared in astonishment at the letter. Her eyes darted from left to right to read it three times more. She was trembling so much she almost couldn't read it along with her blurred sight. She felt so agitated, now he showed he actually cared about her. She hadn't been wrong, she had been right all the time;

her dad loved her.

But what if he was a douchebag? What if this letter was fake? What if he wasn't the same person she used to remember? He hadn't written anything about her mum, did that mean she was dead?

But soon she would get a new home, soon she wouldn't be alone anymore.

_To get it right_

She had to decide right now;

_To get it right_

This was her last day… or.. not?

**END PART I**

**So welcome guys! Short chapter for my being, because I've of course split it up. This is the LAST innocent chapter, and from chapter 23 I hope you can all handle the violence and such, 'cause it'll get really violent. **


	24. Chapter XXII part II: Get it right

**PREVIOUSLY IN TVOL:**

**Elsa and Jack were busy with a heavy make-out session when Michael called that again money had been stolen even when he had changed his passwords. That could only mean Victoria must've stolen again the codes even when she had promised not to. Now they have told Michael and Katherine what Victoria has done. Victoria is furious as she sits in her room, completely lost in morality and how to handle her life. She thinks a dark plan of her is the only way to escape reality, but then a certain letter is shoved under her door… **

**Is it truly the person she had been waiting for, for already eleven years?**

**CHAPTER XXII: Get it right **

**PART II**

_When December comes I bet that you want to__  
__Wrap me all up and take me home with you__  
__See what I look like under them lights__  
__We'll keep it quiet whatever we do_

That afternoon she and Jack sat in the living room on the couch, talking after the movie they just watched had ended. Elsa's hands were wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate, she wore sweatpants and a loose shirt. Her soft platinum blonde locks were pulled into a messy bun. Outside the winter weather howled around the skyline and so Jack had lit the fireplace.

_I'm just tryna keep my baby warm through the winter time__  
__I'm just tryna to give you something to remember through the summer time_

Elsa snuggled up against him under a fleece blanket, while he ran softly through her hair. They were all the time giggling and smiling. It made her feel happy and warm from the inside. Her heart pounded along with the R&amp;B rhythm of Ariana's song 'December' that played in the background.

_And whatever is on your list, I'll do it__  
__And whatever it is, you know I'll do it_

She closed her eyes as she listened to Ariana Grande's vocals. She softly mumbled along with the song. It was so cosy, somehow cute and she loved chorus. Jack's hands rubbed with his thumb the side of her shoulder as he pulled her closer. It were always these small, but affable gestures that made her blush.

_Merry Christmas, here I am boy__  
__Gonna love you, gonna give you all I can boy__  
__Merry Christmas, here I am boy__  
__I'm a present, and you know it, here I am boy_

Dim light fell on them, a cosy atmosphere hung in the air, and she felt the warmth of the fireplace as the hot chocolate warmed her up. Her eyes met Jack's. Always when they had this certain eye contact she began to tremble, her heart began to race in her chest and she just couldn't help it but cast her eyes down.

_Merry Christmas, here I am boy__  
__Gonna love you, gonna give you what I came on__  
__Merry Christmas, here I am boy__  
__I'm a present, and you know it, boy_

He bended slowly, and her heart skipped a beat. Her eyelids closed, and she bended as well while she cocked her head slightly to the side. His hand moved slowly to her shoulder, the two bending closer and closer. His men perfume filled her nostrils. Before she knew it she met his soft lips for a tender kiss. She couldn't suppress a soft smile.__

_Give you the fire__  
__I keep inside__  
__Got you all the way down be all night like__  
__Give you the sweetest kiss that you'll taste__  
__Unwrap me now been waiting since midnight_

Their jaws moved in sync in a slow pace while she tasted him. Their tongues touched and glided sensually over each other as her hands were as always when they kissed lost in his hair. She sat within seconds on his lap, the two chest to chest. She wanted him to unwrap her, to cosset her, to love her. Their kiss was sweet as pink champagne.

_I'm just tryna keep my baby warm through the winter time__  
__I'm just tryna to give you something to remember through the summer time_

His hands were all over her body as he bit seductively her lip. Closed eyes didn't prevent seeing colours; she'd never known black had so much colour, so much shades. Her parted lips escaped hoarse soft moans before her hands cupped the sides of his cheeks.

_And whatever is on your list, I'll do it__  
__And whatever it is, you know I'll do it_

Their jaws moved in the rhythm of the song in the background. She felt head in the clouds, she felt the same sensation as when she was skating on ice in the moonlight, she felt amorous, she felt alive, she felt Queen of the Clouds. Elsa's tummy made a twist and turn like it was a rollercoaster now he was so close, now he touched her so intrepid.

_Merry Christmas, here I am boy__  
__Gonna love you, gonna give you all I can boy__  
__Merry Christmas, here I am boy__  
__I'm a present, and you know it, here I am boy_

His hands moved down to the end of her shirt to move it over her head when they broke apart for a slight moment. She felt ethereal in his arms, his name was tattooed on her heart and she felt the excitement just sparkling between them like colourful fireworks filling a night sky. The two giggled and never had she felt so many butterflies, so much love, so much happiness filling her when he smiled at her. She saw sweet little Jackson in his eyes._  
__Merry christmas, here I am boy__  
__Gonna love you, gonna give you what I came on__  
__Merry christmas, here I am boy__  
__I'm a present, and you know it, boy_

She wrapped her arms around his neck while his hands rested on her hips. They snooped for a second before Jack's nose trailed down to her neck. He triggered places she never knew she had a weakness for. Just when she was about to lift his shirt as well, her phone rang.

They looked up and to her pleasant surprise it was Victoria who called. That she even wanted to speak to her after she and Jack told her foster parents about what she'd done behind their backs. A photo was displayed on her phone. Elsa had quickly used her Whatsapp photo for if her screen would light up when she called. Deep green eyes stared at her, as the corners of her narrow lips were curved in a smile. Her long red hair fell over one side of her shoulder, as she had her head cocked a few degrees to the side and one shoulder was slightly lifted so her collarbone stood out. Her fair skin had a niveous glow in the soft lightning.

"Victoria."

"_Elsa, I can kill you right now but I need to tell you something and I don't want to WhatsApp. __The ballet department of the dance academy where I dance has collaborated with the directors of the musical 'Anastasia' where I play in. I auditioned like six months ago for the main character and I got the role.''_

''That's so cool! Congratulations Vic, your first Broadway musical!'' Elsa smiled.

''_Yeah I know. I think I did in my life already six auditions and got rejected every time before I finally got this big role, so finally my effort pays off,"_ Victoria spoke laconically with a snort. "_Anyway, next to the fact that I have a big role to play and have several solos to sing, the directors also want to me to do a pas de deux with Ralph who plays Dimitri, since we both dance in the ballet selection classes of Alvin Allan Dance Academy.''_

''Victoria, do you realise Michael and Katherine will get a heart attack if they'll see you dancing on pointe shoes –''

''Yes I do, Elsa!" Victoria almost snapped bitchily and Elsa was reminded once again what a bunch of personality she was. "_and that's exactly why I first didn't want them to come.."_ she began slyly.

"Oh god I hear a 'but'" Elsa sighed a bit.

Victoria continued; "_Indeed; but after the incident of this morning I want to pack my bags and go, I mean I'm just so done with them. And I know if they'll see me dancing on pointe shoes and discover I kept ballet a secret that I'll get a new foster home for sure. I'm going to use their rage in my benefit.''_

''Vic, don't do any dangerous things we know you,'' Elsa sighed with a low groan.

''_Yes mummy_,'' she sighed sarcastically and Elsa knew she was rolling with her eyes.

_ ''__But to continue I've got a plan…. but I can't tell you. I can only say you'll never see me again after this afternoon…'' _Victoria's voice suddenly sounded hoarse. Then she cleared her throat and spoke business-like again;_ ''Michael and Katherine have bought tickets for themselves and for you two… I hope you and Jack can come even when I announce this like two hours before reception..."_

''But Victoria tell me the truth," Elsa spoke warningly. "As you now ex-best friend -since I know you're pissed with me now- I have the right to know it," Elsa ended with a giggle.

"_Listen Elsa, I've got a plan but I just can't tell you. I can only tell you you'll never see me again after this afternoon…_'' Victoria's voice suddenly sounded hoarse.

"_And don't worry, you're still my best bitch along with Hansie." _They giggled.

Then she cleared her throat and spoke pragmatically again; ''_I made sure there're tickets reserved for you and Jack, since you two promised you would come. Wait, you will come right?"_ she begged.

"Of course we'll come."

_"Good. The musical starts at three 'o clock in the Amsterdam Theatre at Broadway."_

Yes but Victoria," Elsa began with a frown "if you mean all what you've just said then I'm going to lose you!" Elsa protested.

"_I'm sorry Elsa but I have no choice. Thereby, you and Jack won't stay in New York forever anyway…" _

"Yes that's true but still..." she sighed slightly. "I have to go now, since I was busy when you called me."

"With what? Fucking your husband?" Victoria spoke cheekily.

"N-no I'm not," she denied.

"_Oh really well you're not stammering at all or so.._" she chuckled amusedly.

"And even if I am right now, what do you want me to do?"

"_Spill every dirty detail_," she hissed cunningly and it sounded almost like she licked her lips. "_Nah just joking. Well I mean just be honest with me if you are right now and I'll try to make no images in my head_," she shrugged. "_And tell me huh, is he good in bed?_" she joked. "_Does he like it hot or wet?" _

"Vic!"

_"Top or bottom? -"_

"Bye Victoria," Elsa laughed and as she simultaneously hung up she heard how Victoria laughed in the background.

''Why did she call?'' Jack asked curiously.

"This afternoon will Victoria play her premiere and we're invited to come. Jack, she told me about this certain 'plan' she has and it scares me. I don't know what she's going to do and I have the idea this is only the beginning.''

·

Elsa and Jack arrived at the Amsterdam Theatre where the premiere of the musical Anastasia was held. They were dressed pretty formal for the rather important and chic occasion.

A ruffled full-skirt dress that had a rose gold colour made Elsa's sylphlike posture stand out and Jack wore practically as always a formal suit.

The two entered the enormous foyer. The sight of about one and a half thousand smaragdine green upholstered seats and hundreds of rows was already enough to make Elsa smile. She was a big musical fan. The huge theatre filled itself with people and the air was filled with talking, laughter, footsteps and cosiness.

Victoria was chosen to play the role of the main character –Anastasia of course- a thing which was quite remarkable, since the she was only sixteen. Still, Victoria looked two years older than she actually was so in this case that was a huge plus. Of course Victoria was nothing more but just made for this role with her long red hair and addiction for the song 'Once Upon a December'. No wonder when the exact same words had been engraved in the golden bracelet her biological parents had given her.

Ralph, Victoria's best friend who she'd seen once at the Smith's, played Dimitri, and Ralph's little sister, an eleven-year-old girl named Elvie, played the younger version of Anastasia.

Hans, who was dressed in a suit, was next to them searching for a seat as well. She walked into the eighth row, while Hans followed her just like Michael and Katherine. Hans sat next to her on her right side and Jack on her left. Elsa crossed her leg over the other one.

''I must say I'm more than curious to hear the story about how that kitchen knife by accident dug in your upper leg…'' she spoke mockingly and she was sure she'd never worn a smirk bigger than this one.

Hans ignored her by staring with his oh so well-known resting bitch face forward.

Then he bended to her ear and whispered ominously, ''I see you and Jack can't manage to solve the case and are at a dead end now, but don't worry; you two will have plenty of work after today." The shivers ran down her spine.

She wanted to ask what he meant but the lights slowly dimmed until it was dark and she knew the musical would begin.

·

**ELSA**

After another hour of watching 'Anastasia' the finale would be played soon. She'd watched everything in awe. The décor was more than splendid, the acting was very credible, and she enjoyed the show a lot. She was convinced the eleven-year-old girl that played the role of little Anastasia was a copy of how Victoria looked when she was eleven. She almost felt like a proud mum when watching Victoria doing her passion on stage.

Victoria could relate a lot with her character; both of them were orphan, practically didn't know anything anymore of their past, were searching for their loved ones, had a bond with the song 'Once Upon a December', and both had red hair.

They were in Paris, and Anastasia had just discovered Dimitri had actually used her to only get the money for finding the heir of Russia back. She had slapped him as hard as she could when she'd discovered it –to Elsa's, Jack's and Hans' amusement- before walking away. Victoria was on fire and somehow it looked like she had no effort at playing mad.

Elsa watched the current scene. Victoria was alone in her room, packing her bags to go back to Russia. She picked the rose Ralph had given her up and stared at it, before throwing it away in the trash and she resumed to pack her things.

Someone knocked on the door and Victoria looked up before turning her head away and she groaned. _''Go away Dimitri,''_ before she threw another piece of clothing in her suitcase.

The door opened anyway and her grandmother, also known under the character name Dowager Empress Marie –or shortly Marie-, walked in. The around sixty-year-old actress that played the role of the old lady looked very good for her age. Her silvery hair was pulled into a stylish up-do, her lilac dress was simple but elegant and she used a walking stick to keep her balance. Elsa didn't know the name of the actress, so she just took the name was 'Marie'.

Victoria turned herself when she heard the door opened anyway and she wanted to snap at the person to leave, but she gasped when she saw who it truly was. '_'Oh I'm sorry!'' _Victoria stammered in apology._ ''I-I thought you were –''_

_''__I know very well who you thought I was, but who exactly are you?'' _Marie began strictly, even though a tone of mischief was hidden in her voice. She made her way to Victoria, who seemed rather uncomfortable with the noble presence in her bedroom.

'_'__I was hoping you could tell me_,'' Victoria sighed softly before she faced shyly the ground and fumbled nervously with her hands.

'_'__My dear, I'm old_,'' Marie began and she walked past Victoria with a tilted chin, ''and I'm tired of being conned and tricked,'' she ended as she turned her back to Victoria and stared out of the balcony window. Elsa understood her, since for decades hundreds of girls had claimed to be her lost grand daughter, but every time it was the same lie.

''I_ don't want to trick you_,'' Victoria explained friendly, still with a tentative voice.

'_'__And I suppose the money doesn't interest you either?_'' Marie spoke in a certain tone Elsa couldn't place. She didn't know if it could be described as mocking or genuine interest. The old sophisticated lady walked over to the balcony and once more turned her back to Victoria.

'_'__I just want to know who I am_,'' Victoria continued in desperation, while following Marie to the balcony. ''Whether or not I belong to a family,'' she spoke still in calmth. ''Your family,'' she ended boldly.

A silence lingered in the air and Marie turned her body and head slightly in Victoria's direction. An amused smile spread across her face, ''_You're a very good actress. Best yet in fact, but I've had enough_,'' Marie snorted determinedly, before she walked off the balcony, past Victoria, into the room again.

As Marie walked past Victoria, the redhead sniffed a bit and she furrowed her eyebrows slightly. Then she moved her head to the duchess. '_'Peppermint?''_ she began in slight distinction.

'_'__An oil for my hands_,'' Marie answered in concision before she so to see wanted to exit the room.

'_'__Yes,_'' Victoria whispered before she turned her head and looked at the night sky for a second to then speak her memory. '_'I spilled the bottle so the carpet was soaked. And so it smelled forever like peppermint_,'' Victoria giggled while fumbling with the precious necklace the character Anastasia was always wearing.

Marie turned and looked up in slight shock. '_'Like you!_'' Victoria ended with a smile. Marie lowered to sit down at a chair, to listen to all what Victoria told_. ''I used to lie there on that rug and oh I missed you when you were away…''_ Victoria spoke out of nowhere with a slight sigh as she made her way into her bedroom again. '_'When you were here, in Paris,_'' she ended while looking around in the very room.

Marie gestured she had to sit down next to her. Victoria obeyed. Marie spoke attentively while gazing at the necklace around her neck. '_'What is that?''_

''This?'' Victoria smiled softly while holding the necklace clasped between her fingers_. ''I've always had it ever since I can remember.''_

_''__May I?'' _Marie asked suddenly quite friendly for her being. Victoria gave a quick nod before handing it over to her. _''This was our little secret,''_ Marie spoke agitated, while staring at the fragile golden necklace. A hand was placed on her collarbone. '_'My Anastasia's and mine,''_ she ended before she revealed a delicate music box made out of gold leaf and jade.

_''__The music box,''_ Victoria gasped slightly and she stared fascinated at it. Marie handed it over to her_. ''To… to sing me asleep when you were in Paris!'' _Victoria held the beautiful box in one hand, while turning it on with the necklace that could make the mechanism work. She began to murmur 'Once Upon a December' and within seconds the box opened and the music began to play.

_''__Hear this song and remember,''_ she sang while looking at the two figures that arose from the music object that opened. They were crafted like that so it looked like they danced on the music. _''Soon you'll be, home with me,'' _Marie sang along with her.

_''__Once upon a December,''_ they ended with a bright smile. A tear escaped the corner of Marie's eye and she placed her hands on the sides of Victoria's cheeks to cup them. ''Oh Anastasia, my dear Anastasia,'' Marie whispered in realisation with a soft smile before the two hugged.

She'd finally found her family back.

She wondered what was going on in Victoria's mind.

·

**VICTORIA**

Victoria walked off stage to go backstage after her scene was done. The dark made her pupils dilate. A dimmed blue fluorescent lamp was the only light she got and she could barely see herself. This was one of the fewer scenes she wasn't on stage because she had to change into a new costume as fast as she could for the next scene, which was the finale. The echoes of all what was said on stage were heard backstage in de background.

A microphone was secured behind her ear and a thin black thread trailed under her costume down her back to a small black case that sent all what she said to the technics so everybody could hear her well. If she would be on schedule she should already be busy with removing her microphone because it's not allowed to change from costume when wearing the fragile object.

She ran as fast as she could to the people who took care of the microphones. ''Victoria Leroux, I play Anastasia,'' she rattled as fast as she could. She always had to say it so they could check a schedule that showed when which actor needed which microphone. The woman nodded, flicked their flashlight on –since it was practically dark- and looked on the schedule. Her finger trailed down the list till she found her name.

She felt the stress; if she wouldn't be on time she would miss her scene. The microphone was removed, she put the headset off and sprinted to her changing room where two dressers and a make up artist would wait for her.

Victoria burst through the door and almost immediately threw her clothes off to change herself into her tutu and pointe shoes. ''Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!'' she cursed when she didn't manage to zip the zipper of her costume down with her trembling hands. The fabric of her tutu and pointe shoes was dark blue and was covered entirely in Swarovski diamonds. It shimmered so much that it blinded her eyes.

Her dressers helped her while she put her pointe shoes on and simultaneously her make up artist gave her some eye shadow, fake eyelashes, and lipstick. She kept cursing while panting she needed water but she wasn't allowed to eat or drink in her costume. There was no time for stilling her thirst; she had to get out of here.

Before she left the changing room she checked her reflection. It was warm, she was sweating a river, a rosy blush spread across her cheeks and the adrenaline raced through her veins.

This day was too much for her; whole New York was about to see how the daughter of Aurelie Leroux, _the_ former national ballet talent, would perform a dance on pointe shoes in a complicated pas de deux. She was scared for the judgment, she was scared for negativity, she was scared for failure.

What if they expected from her to be as good as her mum? Somehow she'd never liked it her mother was some ballet legend since because of that people would always set the bar three times higher for her than they did with her non-famous peers who also did ballet.

Thereby, she hadn't taken her medicines for her bipolarity today. If her emotions would switch without a warning -like they always did- from a mania to a manic episode she would have a major problem. And then not to think of what could happen if she wouldn't be able to concentrate herself just like what'd happened at that audition for a world tour with the company.

She could fall, snap out of concentration, forget her dance poses, plus she could get seriously injured. And that was only a fraction of all what could happen. She remembered Katherine's words when she told her she wanted ballet lessons.

_"I want ballet lessons," Victoria spoke determinedly. She followed her new foster mum to her bedroom as she pulled her suitcase with her. _

_Katherine turned her head over her shoulder and spoke. "Oh Veronique, it costs too much effort and look at all the hazards of the sport! Thereby, it's asking so much discipline of you and my husband and I have absolutely no time for that!" she spoke with a light chuckle. _

Katherine had been right all the time but she hadn't want to see it, she hadn't want to see the truth.

The phoenix began to realise how much risk she was taking. Victoria wanted to go back in time so she could change the present, but she knew it was too late for that now.

She realised this was it; she would use Katherine and Michael's rage in her benefit to make her plan work, she would show them where she was capable of, she would show them she could dance on pointe shoes, she would show them she was a true Leroux where you didn't have to mess with.

She would show them what true talent that was driven by passion looked like.

But only if she would make it on time to the stage.

·

**the next chaoter will kick off the kickass part of this story! From here it will be all violence, dark shit and THE VENGEANCE OF LOVE!**


	25. Chapter XXIII on the run

**All characters are on my Pinterest, TVOL board and new photos are added If you don't understand something, who people are, situations, whatever tell me and I'll explain everything with all my love to you, dear. **

**CHAPTER XXIII: on the run**

**VICTORIA**

**FLASHBACK**

She'd been hyperactive all day, now her dad had announced in the letter she'd received that he would come to her and watch the musical where she played in. Never had the redhead been so nervous and happy at the same time.

She had to get on time to the Amsterdam Theatre to play her premiere. She ran onto the busy streets of New York to sprint as fast as she could to the subway to take a metro to Broadway. She slid down the railing, and continued to run as fast she could to the subway that would bring her to her destination. All the time she was singing 'Once Upon a December', the song her biological parents always used to sing for her.

She made a last sprint when the grey doors of the subway were already closing, but still she ran as an idiot to them. She wouldn't give up. Just when she was about to collapse into the in the meantime closed doors, she felt how someone grabbed her by her arm and pulled her back behind the yellow line.

She turned her head to see who had grabbed her. She met hazel eyes. "Ralph, what a coincidence!" she exclaimed in surprise and without thinking she hugged him. They snickered.

The heard behind her how the metro drove away to leave the two alone in the station.

"Hey Veri,'' he spoke in their hug. He like always made a combination of Victoria and Veronique. ''singing already?" he ended with a quick wink when they broke apart.

She giggled a bit nervously and she felt how her cheeks got a rosy glow. "Yeah…just warming up, you know,'' she mumbled with a soft grin to cover her shame up.

"I can't wait to meet my dad, Ralph! He'll be there!" Victoria began in full excitement. She had the idea she could jump up and down, now she was so filled with happiness. She felt as if she could handle the entire world, as if no one could stop her.

"Yeah you called me about the letter. But hey that's fun! I know it means a lot for you. But you're so hyperactive, a thing you're like never. What's happening Veri?" he asked almost suspiciously while raising an eyebrow at her. His gaze moved from top to bottom over her being.

"Oh I haven't taken my medication today to control my manias and manic episodes," she waved away with a smirk.

Ralph looked up in shock as his eyes widened. "Victoria you're in a mania now!"

"No, I'm not,'' she denied. ''I'm just happy for once in my life, zeurpiet," she snapped bitchily at him. 'Zeurpiet', it was this weird Dutch word Ralph had taught her to describe a whiner with.

He grabbed her by her firmly shoulders as he turned her in his direction, their eye contact incisive. "Victoria! What if you get a manic episode when we're playing the premiere?!" he almost exclaimed in worry.

"That won't happen," she relativised groaning and she pulled his hands off her shoulders. The right metro arrived and they entered it.

He sighed heavily, while entering after her the subway. ''You're insane."

"It's my life Ralph, don't interfere yourself with it.'' She felt extremely irritated suddenly.

"Whatever you want," he sighed while raising his hands in a surrendering way. The metro doors closed and soon the metro rushed through the darkness of the New York underground. The tunnels that passed them were as dark as her past.

And if it was for her fate, that ruled her future as well.

**ELSA**

**Song: once upon a december by emile pandolfi**

Elsa looked up when Victoria walked on stage. Her mouth dropped in amazement and her eyes widened in awe when she noticed the splendid deep blue tutu and pointe shoes Victoria wore. They were studded in adorning Swarovski diamonds and every one of them made her think of the diamond on the proposal ring of Aurelie, her mother.

_(0:10)_

Victoria's long auburn hair was moved over the side of her shoulder, her greenish eyes sparkled as much as the jewels on her costume, her fair skin received a niveous glow in the soft, romantic lightning, and her smile was as graceful as her hand and finger movements. She made her way to the middle of the stage in adagio.

A bright smile flourished across Elsa's lips.

_(0:22)_

She noticed Ralph couldn't restrain a soft smile when he saw her. As she approached him, his hand moved gracefully out for her to take it.

Elsa and Hans glanced at the same time to the side to watch in amusement Katherine and Michael, who'd both turned pale as snow. The couple gave each other a somewhat fretting gaze, and the shock, yet impression was written in their expressions.

_(0:34)_

Her love interest, no other person than Ralph, took gently her hand in his, to turn her around and the dance began.

_(0:40)_

Victoria raised to stand on the platform of her pointe to become as tall as Ralph. She raised her right leg backwards, moved her hand slowly upwards, and stretched herself out to make an allongé. Ralph stood behind her and he placed his hands around her slender waist. They both radiated calmth, tranquility.

_(0:50)_

Victoria looked like a swan, so graceful and splendid was she. And then the way she danced; it looked as if she glided over the floor, floated in the sky, as if found the depths of her own ocean. Michael and Katherine's mouths were dropped in astonishment. All they could do was watch and gasp with every pose she made.

_(1:02)_

The discipline was even to be found in Victoria's fingertips, in the way she gazed, in the way she radiated this certain energy Elsa had never seen with her. Everything was fragile, adagio; her lithe hands were gracefully moving on the music, and her feet were even moving in her tranquility. Still she could see a burning sparkle of hope and love in the girl's eyes. When she moved her head to the side Hans was smiling unconsciously as warmly and brightly as her.

_(1:14)_

Hans, Jack and her were gloating out of proudness and Elsa felt how her tummy made a squirm in happiness when she saw Victoria doing her passion. A pirouette, a clié, an assemblé, an attitude, she did it all with the slightest effort. Even her arabesque, the girl's greatest weakness, was pretty good for her being. Still nobody's perfect.

She felt like a proud mum.

**VICTORIA**

_(1:24)_

She felt more than ethereal in Ralph's arms. His hands draped in endearment over her arm, all the way to her hand as he stood behind her. She had her head moved to the side to look at him. He took his hand in hers, before placing his other one on her hip and then he took her with him.

Where to? She didn't know, maybe heaven, maybe a world without pain, suffer and grief but she knew she was safe, she knew there was nothing to fear with him at her side.

_(1:42)_

She danced on the platform her pointe shoes, as he held her closely. They never broke eye contact, they never lost connection, they never lost concentration, they never realised an audience was watching them. For Victoria it was just them, alone and lost in their own world, their own story, their own fantasy, their own desire.

He lifted her, he twirled her around, and she danced around him, as the memories of her once irenic past filled her mind. His hand touched her cheek in a caressing way and she smiled softly at him. Ralph's touches were gentle, and he treated her in most respect as if he was convinced she was made out of trust, so fragile was her aura.

_(1:57)_

She couldn't stop dancing even if she would want it; her feet moved by itself, the hauntingly beautiful music guided her steps and the sound of her past made her heart fill with love and hope. She closed her eyes as her body expressed itself. The soft lightning gave the pas de deux a nocturne atmosphere and she herself was flying a meter above the ground out of love.

She was trembling, but still kept her balance, and her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she was sure her partner could hear it, but who cared; let her heart tell him it was beating for him, and not her contrived boyfriend.

_(2:12)_

They ran diagonally forward, and Ralph placed his hands around her waist before they jumped in the same pace forward at the same time. Their spines and lithe bodies stretched in sync. Before she could touch the ground with her pointe, he made her fly again by lifting her in the air to twirl her three times around his axis around. She moved her legs in a split, bended her feet and toes at the same time so there was an arch in the back of her pointe shoes.

_(2:28)_

She made several pirouettes while dancing around him and when she was in reach for him, she made a chasse fouetté to end in an arabesque. He lifted her once more into a shoulder sit and she immediately straightened her back and stretched one foot slightly outwards before lifting one of her arms above her head.

A bright smile flourished across her lips as the audience clapped.

_(2:39)_

He put her on the ground again. Within a matter of time she danced her solo part. She closed her eyes while feeling how free she was, how joyful. A smile in unbridled joviality flourished across her lips as she danced and danced on her pointe shoes.

She never wanted to stop, she couldn't stop and she wouldn't stop; her feet and movements were controlled by her will and desire. Nothing and nobody could break it.

_(2:52)_

She made her way to Ralph before she ran to him to then jump. He caught her and twirled her around. In their movement, she wrapped her legs around his waist, tightly, before she let go with her arms that she'd first laid in his neck, and she leaned backwards to only support her body by tightly wrapping her legs around his torso as he still twirled her around and around and around.

She could see the stars of heaven.

_(3:06)_

He supported her back for a moment, before he stopped making turns around his axis and she jumped back with both feet on the ground. Never had the two so much effort at suppressing their wicked grins.

He laid his hand in her waist and pulled her closely. His hand placed in hers before he led their dance. In her head she counted like a mantra the words 'one, two, three'.

_(3:18)_

Victoria had laid the side of her head on his chest in the meantime as they danced in the soft spotlight in the middle of the stage. She closed her eyes for a moment. She wondered where her father was, her mother. She wanted them to see her, she wanted them to know she survived and was strong without them even when it was hard.

_(3:25)_

Her eyes shut and within seconds her mind was filled with desirable thoughts, that made her feel happy and gave her mood a romantic twist.

_The ivies grew like a wild plant around the columns of the pavilion they were dancing under. The dim moonlight fell on them, as he lifted her, twirled her around and made her like a feather that was carried in a soft spring breeze._

_(3:38)_

"Je souhaite que vous pourriez être ici, mama," she whispered in desire. The mother language of her mum always made her feel safe in a way she couldn't explain. "Je ne laisse jamais vous allez, comme promis."

A tear escaped her eye to roll down her cheek. She hadn't even blinked.

Ralph kissed her on the crown of her head. It made her blush slightly.

_(3:48)_

Her eyes fluttered open and listened to the soft, harmonic music. It was possessing her in such an intense way that she shut her eyes and hummed along with the music. She wished with whole her heart her mum was sitting in the audience, she wished with whole her heart after this day she would be reunited with her father and mother again, because that letter she'd received yesterday had given her more life and hope than ever before.

The last accords were played and in automatism she lifted herself for the last time on her pointe, to terminate with Ralph in an arabesque lift.

_(End)_

She lost pose and turned her body to the audience. The premiere was done, the premiere of her first Broadway musical ever was done and she'd enjoyed it more than anything.

But then, her heart skipped a beat in fear and anxiety when they didn't clap. You could hear a pin drop and no one moved. Victoria turned with fretting eyes her head to Ralph who swallowed just like her nervously and their eyes met.

She held her breath in agony when every silent second felt like an hour. Nobody in the audience moved, nobody blinked, nobody seemed to breath.

The staring of the people burned in her ego and confidence to carve another scar, another trauma in her mind. The tears emerged in her eyes and she rather wanted to disappear from the earth surface in shame.

This dance was meant for her parents, for her mother, her father, for her family, for her past, for one of her few happy memories. She'd put her heart and soul in it and nobody seemed to notice it, nobody seemed to care.

It felt as if she was screaming at the top of her lungs and nobody even bothered to look up.

**(A/N) Song: 'Over and Over Again' by Nathan Sykes ft. Ariana Grande**

But then, a man with auburn hair, who sat on one of the front rows raised from his chair for a standing ovation to whistle hard before he applauded. A warm, proud smile was spread across the man's features.

Victoria looked up and her eyes widened when it was her best friend, her soul mate, and her saving angel all in one; Hans.

(0:10)

The rest of the audience followed him and within seconds a euphoric burst of applause erupted. The whistling was everywhere, the clapping, the bawling. Never had she gotten such a big applause, never had so many people raised from their chairs for a standing ovation, never were so many roses thrown on stage, never had the grinned so widely when noticing how the smiles flourished across people's lips like a wild plant that burst of life.

(0:24)

The noise kept coming, and it looked as if it wouldn't stop. She was sure people got pain in the palms of their hands because of all the applauding. A graceful smile spread across her face and several tears ran down her cheeks out of happiness.

She made a bow with Ralph.

_From the way you smile_

_To the way you look_

_You capture me_

_Unlike no other_

_From the first hello_

_Yeah, that's all it took_

_And suddenly_

_We had each other_

Elvie, the little sister of Ralph who played little Anastasia, ran to her after making a bow. Victoria smiled widely at her and wrapped tightly her arms around the eleven-year-old for a long hug. Elvie was part of her musical family and she adored the cute eleven-year-old.

Thousands of photos were made while Victoria hugged little Elvie. Elvie turned herself to her and yelled over the crowd "When I grow up, I want to be just like you!"

_And I won't leave you_

_Always be true_

_One plus one, two for life_

_Over and over again_

"Nawh, come here my little fucker," she laughed before she ran through Elvie's long hair, which had the exact same wave and colour. Elvie laughed exuberantly. Her eyes bore so many sparkles and stars with them that it looked as if a cosmos had been born in it.

_So don't ever think I need more_

_I've got the one to live for_

_No one else will do_

_And I'm telling you_

_Just put your heart in my hands_

Roses, teddy bears, lucky charms, carts, and lots of other things were thrown on stage and Victoria all bended and picked them up. In the end her arms almost couldn't hold all the nice presents she'd received.

The red curtains closed and while the cast waved the audience goodbye, Victoria whispered with a soft smile "This one's for you, mum," while a tear out of happiness ran down her cheek.

**ELSA**

_I promise it won't get broken_

_We'll never forget this moment_

_Yeah we'll stay brand new_

_'Cause I'll love you_

_Over and over again_

_Over and over again_

After the musical was over the press and audience all gathered in the entrance hall to wait for the actors to come back from changing into their gala dresses. Lewis, Katherine, Hans, Elsa and Jack made their way through the overcrowded throng. The press made its way to a big staircase where the actors would descend down from within a few minutes.

_(1:30)_

Ten minutes later Victoria walked down the staircase. A black, sparkly gala dress with a V-neck that reached till the ground adorned her body. A split in the left side of the robe de soirée showed her upper leg. High heels made her as tall as Ralph, to whom she walked next to. Because of the V-neck her cleavage was shown, but in a proper way. Thereby, the girl didn't have a big bosom, so no one seemed to mind.

_From the heat of night_

_To the break of day_

_I'll keep you safe_

_And hold you forever_

Victoria and Ralph descended down the big stairs while holding hands. The rest of the cast followed them. Within seconds the entrance hall was filled with applause once again, while the press began to make photos. The flashes blinded Elsa's eyes, but Victoria and Ralph managed to not blink too much.

_And the sparks will fly_

_They will never fade_

_And every day gets better and better_

Victoria and Ralph posed in front of the press with smiles that radiated nothing more but unbridled joviality and love. It was so clear Ralph was head over heels with the fiery redhead. In the way he stroked affably a tress of hair behind her ear said enough.

_And I won't leave you_

_Always be true_

_One plus one, two for life_

_Over and over again_

Victoria looked up from posing in front of the photographers when she noticed Hans. All the time her gaze had been quite severe and serious for a good photo, but once she noticed her soul friend, the corners of her lips lifted noticeably and she pulled the press aside to run into his arms. Hans spread his arms and Victoria hugged him tightly. He lifted her in the air while twirling the teen around.

He did it over and over again.

_So don't ever think I need more_

_I've got the one to live for_

_No one else will do_

_Yeah I'm telling you_

_Just put your heart in my hands_

"I'm so proud of you, Victoria, you were so good!" Hans exclaimed. Victoria giggled while burying her face in his chest in their hug. The press made thousands of photos of Victoria, who was now in the arms of Hans'. Victoria stood on the tip of her toes, while wrapping her arms in Hans' neck and she pursed her lips while closing her eyes. The pose was so cute. Victoria cuddled him till he got no air and never had Elsa seen how this cold young woman changed almost instantly back to a child again when being with Hans.

_I promise it won't get broken_

_We'll never forget this moment_

_Yeah we'll stay brand new_

_'Cause I'll love you_

_Over and over again_

She showed him a fluffy teddy bear. "Look Hans! You were right when you once said my dad's close! He threw this on stage! There's a card bound around his leg with the inscription _'I love you Victoria, from dad_.' From my dad!" she yelled in excitement over the crowd.

"I know right?" he laughed exuberantly, while he ran for a moment through her hair.

"But I haven't met him yet. He must be here!" Victoria yelled over the crowd, and she began to search in the crowd of people for her dad.

The press called her name and Victoria gave them one quick smile, the flashes blinding Elsa's eyes, before the famous girl turned her head back and didn't give the paparazzi any attention anymore.

She had more things to think about than making photos for a new headline in the newspapers tomorrow.

_Over and over again_

"Hans we have to find him!" Victoria squealed excitedly.

Victoria stood on her toes, grabbed him impatiently by the collar of his suit and whined. "Come on! You have to come with me and find him! Now! -"

"Slow down, slow down," Hans giggled and he released himself out of her grip. She was in a mania, totally not herself and just straight down hyperactive and productive in an impulsive way.

_Girl when I'm with you_

_I lose track of time_

_When I'm without you_

_You're stuck on my mind_

_I'll be all you need_

_Until the day that I die_

_I'll love you_

_Over and over again_

''No! I see a guy over there with auburn hair and he must be my father! I know it's him! It has to! -"

"Vero -"

"He's coming back for me! I'm sure! After all those years he's coming back!"

Hans sighed heavily while placing his hands on her shoulders and he looked incisively in her eyes. "Listen my little hot head, I'm sure your dad is somewhere and I'm also sure he's here, but time will have to wait. Just wait -"

"That's what I'm doing for eleven years now -"

_So don't ever think I need more_

_I've got the one to live for_

_No one else will do_

_I'm telling you_

_Just put your heart in my hands_

"Victoria.''

Victoria looked up when she heard the male voice, and she turned her head over her shoulder before she exclaimed. "Ralph!" She released herself out of Hans' hands, which were lying on her shoulders, and she hugged Ralph tightly.

"Hey Veri," he smiled in their hug with a smile. When they broke apart, he gave her a red rose. Victoria giggled and blushed slightly, before she hugged him again and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

In the background the flashes of the cameras still continued and Elsa wondered if Victoria didn't become crazy because of all the attention.

_I promise it won't get broken_

_We'll never forget this moment_

_Yeah we'll stay brand new_

_'Cause I'll love you_

_Over and over again_

_Over and over again_

Ralph bended to kiss her this time on her lips, but he immediately stopped when he noticed Oliver stood close to him.

Victoria turned around and looked at her boyfriend. Oliver spread apathetically his arms while arching one of his eyebrows, before his lips curled into a charming smile. She walked to him and within seconds he hugged her. He kissed her on the side of her head, and nuzzled in her auburn hair, before he rocked her in his arms. ''My phoenix,'' were the only words he whispered in proud.

_Over and over again_

Apparently, it was his way to express how much he loved her. ''Give me a kiss,'' he whispered dauntlessly in her ear, and when she looked up she pressed her lips on his. Lost ardour and fervour was thrown into the kiss. There was no emotion, and it was as shallow as

"Veronique now you listen to us." Victoria jumped up when she noticed the strict and angry voices of Katherine and Michael, who stood behind her with crossed arms. Victoria broke apart from Oliver and stared at her foster parents.

She knew it was bad lot.

_(end)_

**VICTORIA**

"You can dance on pointe shoes, dance ballet and you've concealed that from us?!" Michael exclaimed in futility. "You're so in trouble you don't even know, come we're going home," Michael groaned, and he wanted to grab her by her arm.

Victoria looked up and her eyes widened in defence. She managed to free herself out of his grip before she spat with narrowed eyes; "no! I stay here! And ballet is my passion, my ambition. I won't give my dream up for you and that stupid wife of you. I don't want you two in my life, I want you to fuck off, to leave me alone and stop acting like you two are my parents!'' Her yelling sounded coarse and standoffish in a ruthless way. Luckily, the talking of the crowd overshadowed it.

"I'm so done with you two!" she hissed in her distaste and aversion, before she took a sprint, pushed herself through the throng, and ran out of the theatre hall, outside, onto Broadway to God-knows-where.

Behind her she heard how Elsa called her name in panic, but Victoria didn't listen. She was done with her foster parents, she was done with all the empty promises everybody always told her, she was done when it came to the way people treated her, as the poor little psycho orphan, as the complicated, complex child.

She was done with people calling her a phoenix, she was done with everything and everyone. She wanted her past to stop following, stalking her, she wanted her nightmares to stop haunting her, she wanted to be redeemed from all the bullshit in her life.

'Cause sometimes you just had to cut it out.

She needed to find a subway station, a busy road, a river, a rope, a knife, it didn't even matter, if only she could be redeemed as soon as possible.

Fate had kept her alive so she could die at the proper moment.

And now it was time.

Right?

**END PART I**

**CHAPTER XXIII PART II: on the run**

**ELSA**

The sound of Jack's phone that rang disturbed the peace and silence in the bedroom of Elsa and Jack. Both persons awoke and raised to support themselves on their elbows when hearing the disturbing noise. Elsa glared at Jack. ''It's eight in the morning, come on I'm still tired from that premiere, please give me some sleep,'' she bemoaned sulking.

Jack groaned and rolled over to the side of his bed to grab his phone from his desk. He answered it after staring numbly at the caller ID. "With Jack."

Elsa looked up when noticing the colour drained out of Jack's face till he was as pale as a ghost. She got a bad gut feeling. "Eh... Yes... Oh God… Okay I'll say it to my wife." He hung up before he turned himself to Elsa, his face twitched in shock.

"Michael called... Victoria has never returned home."

**RALPH**

He was sitting on a bench in Central Park, to get some fresh air. He was whatsapping Victoria for the seventh time after her missing. His eleven-year-old sister Elvie sat next to him. Just like Simone, who was a good friend of him.

He got to know Simone 'via via'. Faye, his and Victoria's best friend, was already befriended with the hip-hopper and about a year ago she'd introduced the friendly brunette to him. The rest was history.

He played the guitar and apparently Simone had an astounding talent for singing. Every Friday and Saturday evening he played with his band at the cafe 'Nocturne'. Their lead singer was Lizzy, one of Oliver's on-off relationships. Oliver's circle of friends visited practically every weekend the café to drink beer and smoke there till they nearly drop to the floor because they're so high.

One evening Lizzy was ill and Simone shyly offered she wanted to sing a song with him. After realising she could be a great addition to the band she was chosen as their new lead singer.

Lizzy quit in probably jealousy.

"I'm accepted in the company for that world tour. There were thirty students who had auditioned and they only needed one boy and one girl. I am that boy and Faye is the girl,'' he began softly.

Simone's eyes widened and she exclaimed ''that's so cool, Ralph!'' before hugging him. ''But are you talking about the audition Victoria fucked up when she sprained her foot?''

He nodded.

He would go on a world tour with the company for a whole year. It felt weird to leave New York, his friends, his family, his parents, and his sweet little sister Elvie.

His parents adopted her when she hadn't even been five months old. Some people had found her all alone in a buggy, and when there was no sign of a parent they brought her to the police. Turned out that under the sheets she lay in, a letter was put. The writer of it hadn't explained the full story, but if they had to believe the letter her mother died because of injuries that'd turned out to be fatal.

Elvie's mum died not even four days after she'd given birth to Elvie. The writer hadn't written anything about a father who lived or was there to take care of the little girl –maybe the writer was the father?- and he also hadn't written anything about brothers or sisters.

When Elvie had been found all alone in her buggy, all that had lied next to her was a plush doll with red hair and blue eyes Elvie called as long as anybody can remember 'Elvie Doll'. Back when Elvie had been found, she'd been nameless and she got the name Embry, but eventually this turned into 'Elvie' because Elvie never understood her name was actually 'Embry' and not 'Elvie'. Thereby, Elvie Doll had the exact same features of Elvie herself, another reason to call yourself after your absolute favourite doll and best friend forever.

Ever since he could remember when people asked 'what's your name?' good-old but most of all stubborn Elvie always said the exact same sentence 'my name is Elvie, and this is Elvie Doll' before showing the frazzle to the apparent person or persons.

He and his parents had tried teaching her to say 'Embry', but it'd been a lost case from moment one. It was the same as when you were going to tell Victoria she had to use the name 'Veronique'.

The same ruled for Elvie; Embry was her official name, but nobody called her like that. And after all there was no better name for her, since 'Elvie' was a fairy name and she adored everything in and around the subject 'fairies'. She was completely in the state of believing in magic and believed holy in them.

He'd always wanted to have a little sister to take care of so he was really happy when his parents took another foster child in when he'd been five years old. Yes, another foster child, since he was adopted as well, but instead of Victoria he had a loving foster home. He loved his sister, his parents and he saw them as one big, happy family.

Elvie was obediently sitting next to him on the iron stool, with Elvie doll on her lap. -it was like her child and it rarely happened she didn't supervise it for a single second-. Their mother had braided Elvie's long auburn hair into a ladder braid and Elvie was restlessly fumbling and fidgeting with it.

A thick coat and a warm shawl plus a fluffy white beret would prevent her from getting a cold. She was a premature baby -she was born with six almost seven months- and because of that her lungs were not fully-grown. A simple cold could be fatal for her if she wasn't careful, so he always made sure she was dressed well.

Elvie was small for her age, couldn't run a lot because of her lung condition and was a shy girl. Because of that she was bullied. Sometimes Victoria and him teamed up and told the bullies to leave poor Elvie alone.

Elvie always asked where Victoria was, because those two just adored each other. Elvie played in the musical Anastasia as well and soon Victoria, Elvie and him began to see each other as their 'musical family'.

She was happily murmuring her _ultimate favourite song of all time_ –'Oya Lélé' sang by K3, some Dutch/Belgium girl group who made songs for kids in the Benelux-.

"Ralph," she began, her voice angelic, smooth as honey and carefree. His heart always melted when looking into her beautiful blue eyes. He nodded in response. "Where's Victoria?"

Simone looked up and shook her head as a sign he had to silence the truth when Elvie didn't look at her. "Victoria's on holiday," he shrugged a bit after a short silence.

"Really? To where then, to fairyland?" She turned her petite body in her brother's direction. She was very thin, has a boyish figure and that made her perfect for ballet, her ultimate passion. Sometimes he or Victoria helped her with positions.

He looked up and mumbled something like the Netherlands in response.

"I want to know where it lies!'' Elvie spoke suspiciously with furrowed eyebrows. ''Lies it in the fairy universe?" she began in excitement.

"No, it's in Europe," Simone spoke absently while scrolling down her Instagram newsfeed.

"Oh... but why is she gone then?"

He stammered while searching for the right lie, but he couldn't think of anything. -and then to think improvisation should be one of his talents as an actor-. ''Come on Elvie, don't ask so much," he sulked.

"You're lying, Ralph," she spoke wisely and spryly before shooting a glare at her adoption brother. "Elvie Doll sees it and Elvie knows Victoria has a French mother and a Danish father, so Vero doesn't have family in the Netherlands!''

"Elvie, once more she's gone okay? Now please shut your mouth and play with Felien."

Felien was her imaginary fairy friend and sometimes when he walked past her room he could hear lonely Elvie talking to 'Felien'. If he had to believe Elvie, 'Felien' had blonde hair, brown eyes and huge wings because she was a _fairy_.

He played the game along but lately it was getting out of hand. Yesterday for example he wanted to go to the bathroom, but then Elvie stubbornly said Felien was there now. He really needed to go to the bathroom and had sulked she and Felien had to go away, but Elvie was sure of her business and patrolled through the corridor like a bloodhound so nobody would enter the bathroom because Felien needed _privacy_.

He talked in his worry with his parents about her social issue, the bullying and the subject 'Felien' and eventually his parents decided to send Elvie to a psychologist, but she was so scared of the woman that all she could do was crying non-stop, so that was also 'mission ended' within two sessions.

"Felien is gone on vacation," she imitated him in an irritated tone. Only now she replaced the 'Victoria' for of course her imaginary friend. "And she _is_ to fairyland, not the Upperlands."

"_Nether_lands," Simone corrected her matter-of-factly. "Hey Elvie what's the opposite of a waterfall?" Simone joked. It was clear she tried to deduce the eleven-year-old when it came to the painful subject 'Victoria'.

"A _firefly_!" Elvie squealed happily and she jumped up before smiling brightly.

"But Ralph, I want Victoria to come back! She's promised she would help me with ballet!" she whined in a singing tone.

"Elvie, Victoria won't come! She's ill," Ralph snapped quickly.

"But one minute ago you said she's on vacation to The Middlelands!" she groaned stubbornly. She was clenching her fists in irritation and she became slowly a little hot head. She had personality and sometimes, really sometimes she got these tantrums that were almost Victoria-like, but normally she was a perfectly mannered girl.

"_Nether_lands, not middle, not upper. And no, also not 'under'," Simone sighed, and it was clear she gave up now.

"RALPH!" Elvie yelled aggravated and she grabbed Ralph's arm before jerking it impatiently up and down. "VERONIQUE NEEDS TO COME BACK!" she exclaimed at the top of her weak lungs.

But he knew deep down she probably wouldn't. She'd told him a lot about her suicide thoughts lately, about the fact she rather didn't want to live than do, and always he tried to convince her she was loved and that it was selfish to leave her friends behind.

"Elvie, stop whining, shut up for fuck's sake and sit down," Ralph snapped.

Elvie's under lip trembled heavily and she began to cry. Simone awed. "Ralph, don't be such a dick to her. Poor Elvie. Come here." Elvie walked tentatively to Simone, still not knowing if the brunette could be trusted. She sobbed and Simone put her on her lap before hugging her. "He's as sad as you, but you know what? Your big brother is just a big grumbler sometimes,'' and Simone tickled Elvie, who giggled girly. ''Plus he's heavenly in love with Victoria and can't handle the fact she is gone " Simone giggled in a teasing way.

"I'm not in love with her." He denied groaning while staring forward.

"Oh, you blushRalphie!" Elvie sang before she pointed at him. Ralph buried his face in his hands and sighed. He hoped to be redeemed from her high-pitched voice for five minutes.

_Just five. _

"Sorry Ralph," she added softly when she finally got the message. She gave him a tight hug and kissed him on his cheek.

"It's okay, blossom." It was her nickname.

Elvie's eyes widened when she saw a cute puppy and with permission of Ralph she ran way to pet it. He did what he'd wanted to do the whole time; texting Victoria and reading their last messages before her missing over and over again. If he would've done it earlier curious Elvie would've constantly whined she wanted to read as well and he had no need to hand his phone over in the greedy little hands of his sister.

He stared at all the texts he'd written to her. She still hadn't seen them if he had to believe the double checkmarks that just wouldn't turn blue.

**Ralph: where are you? We're all kind of concerned about you** _Sent at 17:46 _

**Ralph: Veri, are you okay? **_Sent at 10:50 _

**Ralph :** **Seriously Victoria this is getting scary.**_Sent at 11:16 _

**Ralph : god damn it, answer me... **_Sent at 12:35 _

He furrowed his eyebrows when noticing a new message he couldn't recognise even when 'he' had written it. But he hadn't even read the first word or he already knew who'd been sneakily taking his phone when he hadn't looked.

Elvie.

The bunch of grammatical errors, repetition, overload of emojis plus third person view already said enough.

**Ralph: Verotoria, Elvie doll and Elvie want to know were U ar. Elvie doesnt like it your gone and Elvie Doll cant sleep now Ur gone. Elvie and Elvie doll miss U. Come back soonnnn from fairyland plz. Big kissies from Elvie and Elvie Doll XXXXXXXXXXXX** **And come back soon** sent at 11:23

**Ralph: OH and tell me if a unicorn is soft and if the fairy queen is nice when you come back from fairyland **_sent at 11:24_

He sighed even though he couldn't suppress a slight smile.

''Verotoria, huh?'' Simone laughed, after reading just like him the message his sister had secretly sent.

He snickered. ''It's the shipname she's made because she doesn't understand if it's 'Veronique' or 'Victoria'. When she's confused she says this so she can never be wrong. I think it's a ridiculous name, but if I interfere myself with it Elvie snaps 'lulhoofd' or 'zeurpiet' at me. I already regret teaching her Dutch curse words.''

Simone laughed, but then turned serious with a frown. "I don't understand it Ralph." She stared at her Whatsapp conversation with Victoria before continuing. "What gave her reason to react so extreme and walk away from home?"

"Listen, I was there when she ran away. She'd planned everything believe me. She'd invited her foster parents on purpose to the premiere so they would see she can actually ballet. We're all aware of the fact she has a Bipolar Disorder and she told me she didn't take her medication the day of the premiere -"

"So when her foster parents would become furious after discovering her ballet secret, she knew she would get a mood swing, which would trigger her to run away," Simone ended his sentence and she immediately sat straight up. "This is insane…wait, show me once more what you've sent to her."

Ralph gave her his mobile once more. "Oh and go to my conversation with Oliver. Not that I text the guy a lot, but she once forgot her mobile, so I gave her my phone and later when I opened WhatsApp it turned out she texted Oliver via my phone."

''Is it creepy or…?''

''It's up for you to judge,'' Ralph sighed.

**Ralph: Why do you ignore me when I text you?! I've done anything wrong to you -VAL **_sent at 13:12 _

**Ralph: and I know you gossip behind my back. I see no reason why you have to treat me with everything but some fucking respect, what I just deserve -VAL **_13:13 _

"Why does she call herself 'VAL'?" Simone wondered.

"How should I know," He sighed grumpily. He missed Victoria a lot and wanted more than anything that she would return. He'd already thought of a thousand theories with what could've happened to her, but he just didn't manage to get a grip on his worry thoughts. He got a headache of all the stress, but he was just worried, he couldn't help it.

**Oliver: Huh, just like you're a better person than me, Victoria.** **Just like you're the holy one here. Listen, you suddenly app me per Ralph's phone out of fucking nowhere to get your right. Well if you want war you can get it you bitch. And please do me a favour and STFU about you being the victim in this situation. I'm so done with it** _sent at 13:52 _

**Ralph: well you know where I'm done with, huh? With YOU. We're over ****-VAL **sent at 13:52

**Oliver: I wonder how your parents will react when I tell them you take drugs, cut yourself and silence that particular hobby of you, but oh well…it's your choice you know. If you're really that done with me, then risk feeling all the consequences in the future.**

**Ralph: why do you keep pushing me to be your girlfriend, to steal things and do the dirty work for you?! And I want to know for how long you're even planning on playing this sick game with me, you can't keep me forever! -VAL **_ Sent at 13:54 _

**Oliver: you want to know till I'm done playing this sick game with you? Well I'll tell you: I will when my father finally achieved what he wants and when I get that money back you still owe me and if you don't give it back willingly I'll make you in a way you can't even imagine. It's or your virginity or your throat **_Sent at 14:00 _

Simone's face seemed as worried as his, now her eyebrows were furrowed gravely, and the corners of her lips noticeably dropped when she read again what Oliver had sent to Victoria. "Listen once more what he says about that money she owes him; '_and if you don't give it back willingly I'll make you in a way you can't even imagine.__It's or your virginity or your throat_'. Okay, I know Oliver can be ruthless sometimes, but this just gives me shivers."

" _'Or your throat'_,'' Ralph murmured. He looked up and his eyes widened in realisation. ''Simone, Oliver ran after Victoria ten minutes after she'd run away! And we both know she still hasn't paid him back! Victoria ran away to probably make an end to her life, but Oliver was done with the fact she'd never given him his money back, so he decided to help her."

''What if she asked him to redeem her?!'' he added in panic, his eyes as big as saucers.

"Ralph, what are you trying to say?!" Simone turned her head to him.

"Oliver has killed Victoria.''


	26. Chapter XXIIII PART I: Where are you

**GUYS VERY IMPORTANT FROM NOW ON:**

**DON'T SKIM-READ OR SKIP PARTS IN MY CHAPTERS OTHERWISE YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND A DAMN FUCK OF THIS FANFICTION. **

**THANK YOU.**

* * *

**CHAPTER XXIIII PART I: Where are you**

**ELSA**

Elsa's eyes shut open in astonishment and her fatigue was replaced for a skipped heartbeat. It felt as if a glass of ice-cold water was thrown into her face.

"H-hasn't returned?!" she repeated in stammers. Shock and apprehension filled mind and thought.

"Michael and Katherine have called everybody who could possibly have a clue where Victoria can be, but without success. Elsa, we need to go to the Smith's and see what we can do for them," Jack spoke seriously and he frowned severely in worry.

"Yes, let's do that," she nodded numbly in her distraught. "Jack, yesterday Hans warned me about the fact you and me 'would have plenty of work after yesterday evening' -his exact words-. And now it's the morning after and Victoria's missing. I mean that just couldn't be coincidence, right?" She shivered.

"Maybe it is," Jack sighed slightly, before his eyes met hers.

"And if it is, then maybe she…" Elsa couldn't end her sentence and began over new. "Maybe she's been hit by a car or lies under a metro, but I'm scared in this case it's not coincidental." Jack raised his eyebrow so far upwards it almost reached his hairline. Elsa continued "I'm sorry for thinking this, but Victoria's depression and suicide thoughts were so severe the past months that I can't think of any other motive for her to run away," Elsa spoke in her despondency.

She raised a bit to lean with her back against the headboard of their bed, before she turned her head towards Jack. Her hand glided over the sheets to hold his hand in apprehension.

"Okay think Jack; she hasn't returned home, so she obviously isn't at the Smith's. Then about Oliver: he left laconic and not amused the theatre to go home nearly ten minutes after she'd run away. I mean so to speak he just shrugged and continued his life like he didn't even care!"

Elsa was convinced she deserved so much better than him and his cunning tricks –then not to talk about his disloyal and contrived behaviour-. Her status on WhatsApp -_'__your phoenix ever since 14-1-15 _ _'__\- _was already enough to make her nothing more but gag. Maybe it was because it sounded as if their relation was perfect, peaceful and drama-free, even though Elsa knew the reality was far from that.

"Yes, but who cares about Oliver? He's not a hair better than his father," Jack commented in a groan.

"Talking about his father, we all know almost certainly Pitch has all the stolen money of the Smith's, but I wonder if he's out for Victoria. I mean, the two met in the past already, they're connected to each other."

"That may be, but if he wanted her dead he would've already killed her eleven years ago in that shooting, trust me." Jack fumbled with his chin as he spoke.

"Okay, you're right, but I don't trust him."

"Hans ran after her, but he hasn't found her, so that also leads to a dead end," Elsa continued.

Jack's mobile vibrated and when the caller ID was shown Elsa sighed sarcastically, "great, it's North."

Jack sighed begrudgingly. "With Jack." He was silent to listen to their boss. Then, Jack protested; "North I can't come because -" He was interrupted. " 'No buts'? But North –" Jack sighed and began over-new. "Okay, I'll be there. Will Hiccup and Astrid be there as well?" he snorted.

"Okay, good I'll inform Elsa." And he hung up, laid his phone on his bed stand and faced her. His expression seemed serious and he frowned.

"North just called. The ISA expects me to attend a training at the international headquarter, here in New York. All agents who've worked for more than six years for the ISA now are invited and Laurence will be there as well. Even when this is a chance of lifetime I don't like the fact I have to back at this point out of this case."

"I understand…For how long will you be gone?" She caressed with her thumb his hand.

"Two days. I hope I won't miss anything -"

"Jack, how can you say that?! The child of the victims of this case is nowhere to be seen and there's a probability she's dead!"

"I understand, Elsa, but don't forget the training is here, in New York, so I'll be near if you need me," he assured.

"When do you have to go?" Her hand cupped his cheek.

"This afternoon. Enough about my training, we need to sit in the car as soon as possible to Michael and Katherine," he spoke determinedly, and he jumped off the bed. He moved his shirt over his head and threw it across the room to God-knew-where.

"I want to shower as first," Elsa demanded, while throwing her spaghetti top off to leave her topless. She released her hair from its messy bun before also stripping herself from her sweatpants and undergarments.

"I would be okay with that, but now we don't have any time to wait for each other, so we have to choose; or you shower, or I." He turned himself towards her as he spoke. It was clear he tried to concentrate himself on her face as he spoke, but at the end he was clearly staring at her chest.

Their gazes met for a second and it was enough to make her slightly blush.

Both were silent, before Elsa looked up when thinking of a rather risky plan. "Come, take a shower with me," she giggled with a shrug. She walked towards him, grabbed his hand and led him to the door of the bathroom.

Jack laughed headshaking while he took his sweatpants off to be left in his boxers. "You're crazy."

She giggled. Her laughter died away and she stared in the mirror that hung above the sink. She noticed she'd gained weight and she quickly sucked her stomach in.

Jack stood next to her, he nude as well, and he smiled comfortingly at her. "To be honest, I like you more this way, Elsa. More flesh, less bones," he confessed. He ran a hand through his hair, while he kept looking at her reflection.

"Really? I wonder why men like curvy women more…" she spoke rather sceptically. "I mean in the media, on TV, in TV shows, movies, books, it doesn't matter, everybody has this perfect posture and –"

"That's not reality, Elsa. Those are books, movies and TV shows for a reason," he spoke seriously.

She smiled in gratitude at him. "Thank you, for making me feel better."

"No problem," he shrugged with a warm smile back.

Her hand glided to his, and when she stared at his wrist she looked up when noticing he had a tattoo, which seemed to resemble a solar eclipse. A pointy crown was placed on top of it. The pitch-black pigmented symbol radiated a grimness that was able to send the shivers down her back. The tattoo looked dark, but yet splendid at the same time.

Infatuated with the beauty of ink, she grazed with her thumb over it and Jack looked up. "Do you remember I used to be part of a street group in my teen years?" Elsa nodded in response. "The whole squad had the same tattoo," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders. He looked surprised when she'd asked him about it. "I almost forgot I had it, because normally the band of my watch covers it up."

"Do you have regret of taking it? I mean you're not part of the gang anymore," she wondered.

"That may be, but no, I don't have any regret. Being part of that group made me who I am today," he spoke seriously, but still with praise.

After his words, he wrapped arm around her shoulder and pulled her closely. She smiled when feeling how their bare skins grazed over each other like how they lips used to do that.

"Come, let's take a shower," he smiled and the two stepped into the cabin.

* * *

Steam condensed itself on the glass of the shower cabin, as the hot water drops ran down their bodies like they were competing in a relay race.

Jack and Elsa practically stood against each other in the little space they had. She didn't dare to touch, kiss, neither feel him and his body in apprehension for possible rejection. She tried to focus herself on washing her hair and herself.

Elsa's eyes cast down when Jack bumped accidentally into her and their chests as well pelvises pressed against each other for a moment. Jack quickly mumbled a 'sorry'.

She turned to grab one of her shampoo bottle when she slipped. A small yelp escaped her lips and she tried to find her centre of gravity, but it the floor of the cabin was too slippery. She looked up when Jack quickly grabbed her to prevent her from hitting the ground. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck to hang on it while her feet tried to find grip. When their eyes met a furious blush spread across her cheeks and her eyes cast down.

"Everything alright?" he snickered while he helped her to stand again.

She nodded with a small grin. "Thanks for catching me."

"Pas de problème, mademoiselle," he smiled back with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Come here you," she giggled and she gave him a tender kiss on his cheek.

"Nawh, I'd at least expected a full kiss on the lips from you, Elsa," he kissed playfully his teeth with a cock of his eyebrows. His cheekiness surprised her and she looked up. With a wicked grin she cupped the sides of his face and pressed her lips on his.

Jack bit wantonly her under lip while he ran through her wet, tangled hair. As she granted him entrance he pushed her gently backwards, so her back bumped into the wall. He placed his hands on the wall behind her to create a barrier, while she softly moaned in his mouth.

His extortionate kisses on her jaw turned into tender love bites and Elsa cocked her head benevolently to the side to expose her neck. Raspy whispers and moans escaped her lips between his kisses while she put her hand on the back of his head to pull him closer. His robust lips made their way to her breasts as she could feel him getting hard, a rather exciting feeling.

Even though she didn't want him to stop, she asked him to stop for a moment.

Jack looked up, his eyebrows furrowed in incomprehension, and they eyes met. "We're not having our first time in a fucking shower, Jackson." She rolled her eyes. "It's too uncomfortable, and to be honest it just doesn't feel right now. Thereby, I'm not on contraception."

He was silent and apparently to her irritation taciturnity had hit Mr. Frost.

"Jack, you and I both know we're stressed, in a rush and should be everything but busy with making out now. Thereby, you give me the feeling you're only doing this to show me how amazing and tantalising Jack Frost is, but I just want Jackson to be honest." She knew her words were quite harsh, but she just had to say it from herself. "Then not to talk about the fact if you mean something with this or not, since we all know Mr. Frost kicks on lying with the whole ISA in bed," she snorted snarky.

She pulled herself out of his arms and opened the shower cabin to grab a towel and dry herself.

Jack followed her and stepped as well out of the cabin. "Elsa, seriously get a grip. Don't get me wrong, but this is like falling out of the sky for me. I have no problem with the fact you don't want to have sex with me now, so I'll just wait and make out later –"

"To then leave me behind like you eventually not only did with all the women you had a one-night stand with, but also with your ex-fiancée who carried the baby of you and her?!" she ended dauntlessly. "And guess what? Mr. Frost fled away when he felt how the ground became too hot under his feet!" Her coarse words echoed in the bathroom.

He looked hurt after she'd spoken her words and she instantly had regret for speaking her mind. Then Jack covered his aghast up and chuckled in mock while narrowing his eyes at her. "Why have I ever told you that story anyway? I know you would use it one day against me." A devious smile in mockery was spread across his face and she twitched in distaste when seeing it.

She narrowed her eyes in defence and spat "I don't use it against you, I'm just telling you fucking the truth. You just don't want to see you can't truly love someone. You -"

"How about the fact I was fucking head-over-heels with you twelve years ago, Elisabeth?!" he yelled in outrage at her, his icy blue eyes close to frozen cold. He'd never yelled at her like this, and she startled from it. "You were whole days on my mind, you could make my heart pound faster as the only one, you could make sure I always was at loss for words when being in your presence, you were the one with whom I felt these annoying yet beautiful butterflies in my tummy, so if you try to tell me I can't love someone then please shut the fuck up."

Somehow it hurt her he spoke in past tense and she cast her eyes down. "Jack, I'm sorry -" She looked up when he walked past her, out of the bathroom.

She sighed wistfully. She didn't want him to be angry with her. She was aware of the fact that this could maybe be a clear sign for her he absolutely wasn't in love with her, and that she was just one of all those other women he 'dated'. The insecurity was slowly killing her, but she just didn't have the guts to tell him about her true feelings.

She wondered if she just wasn't a naïve little girl to think you needed love to make love.

* * *

Elsa knocked on the white wooden front door of the Smith's. Jack stood at her side, with his hands in the pockets of his suit. Not a word had been exchanged between the two till now and the cold and standoffish atmosphere still hung in the air.

Elsa waited till the door would be pulled aside, so narrowed green eyes would glare through the split of the door to see who was standing at the front door, but Elsa then realised Victoria was gone. She feared for the life of the redhead.

Michael opened the door. Even though his hair was messy and the beginnings of broken veins and purple skin had formed under his eyes, they wore an obtrusive shimmer. Elsa wondered if something had happened besides Victoria's missing, a thing she was almost certain of. Elsa couldn't think of the thought he was actually happy his rebellious foster daughter was gone, even when it wasn't a secret Michael and Victoria weren't a fan of each other. Still, even a sober and ruthless businessman like Michael would cry over Victoria's dead body.

Without a word they followed Michael to the living room where Katherine was calling with so to hear the police. "Yes, I'm talking about Veronique Smith." Katherine was silent before she spoke once more. "Birth of date and age, huh? She's born on the twenty-sixth of August and is sixteen years old. Yesterday, she ran away out of the Amsterdam Theatre, Broadway around five o'clock in the afternoon and still hasn't returned home." Katherine spoke calmly and assertively, but Elsa heard the stressed and apprehensive tone in her voice.

"She has long, wavy red hair that reaches her elbows and she mostly wears it loose or in a high ponytail. Her eyes are amygdala formed and have a green colour. She has a square formed face, a straight nose, a quite sharp jawline, and narrow lips. When she ran away she wore a black gala dress. Yes... thank you my husband and I will send a recent photo to the police. Okay, bye." And she hung up.

"And?" Michael asked concernedly while he frowned.

"Nothing," she sighed woefully. "I need to go and search for her -"

"No, you aren't going anywhere with the baby," Michael demanded strictly in a protective way.

Elsa and Jack looked up and both raised their eyebrows. Elsa spoke in pleasant surprise. "Katherine, are you pregnant?" Her gaze almost automatically looked at her stomach.

"Yes, I am!" Katherine's smile was able to heal the sick and injured and the way she laid her hand on her stomach said enough; she was already totally smitten with her child.

"Congratulations!" Elsa gloated. She quickly and unnoticeably poked Jack in his side as a sign he had to say something as well, even though she knew he wasn't quite a fan of these pregnancy surprises –it'd cost him his previous relation nota bene -.

"Yes, what my wife eh says," Jack mumbled heartedly. His face showed everything but love, let alone warmth and luckily Katherine and Michael didn't see it. Then Jack continued. "I'm sorry I say it, and please forgive me, but I thought you two couldn't get any kids according to the doctors? I wonder what the decisive factor was in the end that did make you pregnant," Jack spoke in a rather sceptical tone.

"Personally, I think our child is conceived in the natural way, since we stopped with artificial insemination about two months ago," Michael spoke for Katherine, while wrapping an arm around her waist. Katherine nodded affirmatively.

There fell a small silence before Jack cleared his throat and began about Victoria's missing. "So Vic left nothing, also not a goodbye letter to announce suicide or so? Have there really been no signs of wanting to walk away, has there really been no change in behaviour?" Jack spoke as if she was dead already.

Katherine and Michael were silent.

"Let me say it differently; name one thing she's done in the past months you find suspicious," Jack ordered.

Michael looked up, and then spoke.

"Well as you know, she's taken a henna tattoo in the form of a vague symbol. God knows what it means."

* * *

Elsa and Jack entered their apartment. It was three 'o clock, so almost time for Jack to go to his training and he still had to pack his bag. In silence they walked to the bedroom. Jack grabbed his suitcase and threw it on their bed. Elsa walked towards their closet to grab some clothes for him. As she helped him with packing his bag, her thoughts were filled with worries. Grim ideas of all what could've happened to Victoria flashed through her mind.

Not even fifteen minutes later, when Jack was done, he walked with his suitcase in his hand towards the corridor to grab his coat. Elsa pulled the buttons of his coat into the buttonholes as he put it on.

"Elsa," he began. It was the first word he'd spoken to her in hours. "Promise me one thing; don't go out on your own to 'save' Victoria. We're going to do that together." His voice sounded magisterial, and he looked incisively in her eyes, while his hands rested on her shoulders.

The silence lingered in the air after his words and she cast her eyes down to stare at the floor underneath her. "Elsa, promise it. I don't want you getting hurt." Jack raised his voice a bit more, and he placed his hand under her chin to tilt it a bit.

"I promise it..." She firmly closed her eyes after she'd spoken her words, now everything in her screamed she was a liar and a traitor.

"Good." His authoritative gaze softened. "Well, I see you in a week." He put his hands off her shoulders, grabbed his suitcase, opened the front door and left before she could even blink with her eyes.

She ran a hand through her platinum blonde hair and her fretting eyes moved rapidly in slight panic from left to right. As a tear escaped her eyes, she leaned with her back against the front door to lower to the ground. Her shoulder jolted uncontrollably, and she let out a soft sob when realising she was all alone in the real, vicious world that showed no mercy.

She had to solve the case on her own.

She sobbed her eyes out for a few minutes, when she noticed she'd forgotten one thing all the time; if Jack and her solved this case together she would figuratively be chained to him forever. They would have to live in the same house, would have to cooperate, and would have to wear the cover of being married for the rest of the time they worked for the ISA. Even when her love for Jack was rushing through her veins, she didn't want to be paid for wearing the name 'Frost' as a cover. It would become one big puppet show, it would become one big lie.

No, she needed this promotion. Thereby, she had to find her best friend back.

She wiped one of her salty tears off her cheek and whispered to herself; "I'm going to help you, Victoria. I won't let you rot away like everybody else in your life did with you."

She grabbed her phone and without thinking she called Hans, but he pressed her away. She rolled her eyes and whatsapped him.

**Elsa: why did you press me away** _sent at 15:47_

**Hans: I didn't press you away, I was already calling someone** _sent at 15:48_

**Elsa: ok, well can we call now? **_Sent at 15:48_

**Hans: Nah, I'm not into calling** _sent at 15:49_

**Elsa: just pick up the damn phone you bastard. Thereby you say you're not into calling, but you just said you were calling someone? The logic is truly astounding, Hansie **_sent at 15:50_

**Hans: Elsa, you can also just say your thing here… **_sent at 15:50_

She ignored him and called him anyway.

"_Why do you call me?"_ was the first thing she heard on the other side of the line when he answered.

"Uh well maybe, because your best friend is missing and now her other best friend A.K.A. me wants to find her back?" Elsa spoke in a duh tone with a quick roll of her eyes.

_"__So if I understand this well you're calling me to tell me you're going to save the day as the hero of the story? Please Elsa, don't bother me with this," _Hans groaned irritated bitchily.

"No, you don't understand it! I want to find her back with you!" She'd blurted her straight down crazy idea out before she'd even thought of it.

_"__Why with me, and not with Jack?"_ he snorted.

"Well I call for your help, because Jack has a training at the international headquarter and so he has his hands full with Laurence and her squad," she explained rattling. "But I mean it Hans, you're my one and only hope in this situation. The police is already busy trying to find her back, but you know like any other how big this metropolis is."

_"__Okay, go on,"_ he murmured.

"Maybe we can team up and search for her. I mean you were once a part of the ISA, you can handle a gun and have experiences with cases like these. Please, I beg you! Put your hate for me aside and do this for Victoria," she pleaded.

_"__I've never said I 'hate' you,"_ he shot at her with a scornful chuckle.

"Well you give me that feeling. Anyway, are you in? This is your chance to show Laurence you're trustworthy enough to work for her and the ISA again!" Eloise argued.

_"__I don't need 'a chance', because I simply quit, Eloise. Thereby, I have no need to act as some Prince Charming who saves the world from destruction, I'm past that stage of life,"_ the forty-one-year-old stated laconically.

"You're so selfish," she spoke in aversion. "So funny to see how you back off to the background like a coward once one of your best friend is in need for help," she ended scowling. "I'd expected better from you."

"Lost your tongue, Westerguard?" she sang with a devious grin when a silence lingered on the other side of the line.

"Oh no I was just contemplating something. But, you know what? Good, I'm in. See you in an hour at my apartment. I'll send you my address per WhatsApp."

And with these words he hung up.

* * *

**VICTORIA**

The broken girl opened slowly in her weakness her eyes, but all she saw was darkness. An aching, pounding pain was to be felt in every part of her body. Her hands were bond on her back with ropes and the polypropylene material began to slowly but certainly redden and irritate her skin. Every time she moved too much, she hissed in pain because of the friction that gave her the feeling as if it ripped her wrists open to expose flesh and bone.

She couldn't go anywhere, and a trapped feeling entered for the she'd-lost-count-how-many-time in the past twenty-four hours. The only beam of sunlight that filled the room escaped through the split of some stuffy curtains that blinded the window.

Daylight, outside, she had the idea it was an eternity she'd seen and felt it.

She wondered where she was. Not that it would make the situation any better if she knew.

Her pale, almost ashen grey fingertips brushed over the floor. They tried to find something, somebody, furniture, something to hold, but the deep and frightening darkness kept spreading out in front of her like a thick fog.

She breathed so low and weak that a minimum amount of oxygen filled her lungs. Then not to talk about her heart, which was pounding in a body that was close to a state of breakdown.

With every heartbeat her death came closer.

She wanted to go to a place where all the demons went.

Monsters, they didn't sleep under you bed, but in your mind.

**(Song: Aeon, Nick Murray ft. Juliet Lyons)**

She shut her eyes in agony and despair. The previous night had been a horror; a cold airstream whooshed over her body, the wooden parquet floor where she lay on was cold, she was all alone, and she still wore her black gala dress for the premiere of her musical. She'd bought together with Hans.

_(0:08)_

Normally he would help her, but now, no one had come. Even when she'd yelled and screamed for help, the whole night, the whole day, while she'd cried her eyes out. She'd cried for someone, something, a sign of life. And then, finally, she'd definitely heard the person who'd captured her. The person had walked several times past the door of the room she lay in, but every time the muffled footsteps would soon disappear in the distance.

_(0:20)_

If she just had somebody to hold, somebody to hug and feel safe with. Finally after years she'd spoken and cried everything she'd wanted to cry, say, as her clamour echoed against the plain, cold walls. In the past she had swallowed her thoughts every time, her intentions, her feelings, but now not anymore. She felt like she finally got to know her true self and it was more than confronting.

_(0:30)_

She wanted dead. It felt as if she had to handle too much in her life after all it had put her through. Her biological father had always told her _'never let them take off your crown'_. The quote had always given her a reason to not give up, to fight, to survive, and to keep herself alive in the real, cruel, unmerciful world that didn't give any love or comfort.

_(0:38)_

As a little girl, she'd always been convinced true love, a happy family, and a happily ever after existed. But always she'd been wrong. They'd taken her mother away from her, her carefree childhood, to exchange it for violent memories that contained death and gore.

_(0:46)_

And then to top it all, her father had left her to die in a fire he'd put on for his own daughter, his own phoenix. Everybody had left her in the end, everybody. She'd cried so much in her life that she could see her own reflection in her tears, and she was convinced after all those years of grief that there was no possibility there could be any left, but before she knew it her shoulders jolted and she let out a sob.

_(1:00)_

The lonely, sensitive little figure was the only thing that filled the empty room. She lay on her side and felt how the tears ran over the bridge of her nose, since gravity did its work. "If you could just see me now, mum. Why did they have shoot you? Why wasn't it me?" she whispered wistfully in her despondency.

_(1:05)_

She wondered why she'd been so stupid to think running away from home could solve all problems, and that death was the solution for her short, miserable life.

The memory of yesterday afternoon when she'd run away filled her mind.

_(1:10)_

_Hans' footsteps were following her, and she knew he tried to get her, but she ran even faster through the crowd of New York, through narrow alleys, over zebra-crossings, over Avenues, while she kept on running and running. The girl gave from time to time with fretting eyes a peek over her shoulder to see how close Hans was. She kept turning her head over her shoulder, and every time her long auburn hair would sway over it, as she ran for her life. Countlessly, she wiped the tears away from her cheek with the sleeve of her dress._

_(1:24)_

_Victoria ran to run her worries away, to be alone, to make an end to the nightmare she lived in. She ran away from her fears, from the nightmares that kept haunting her, the flashbacks that kept replaying in her head over and over again, and she ran away from the reality she didn't want to deal with._

_But she ran most of all for her freedom._

_(1:33)_

_Hans yelled for her name, to come back, to give up. 'Victoria!' That voice, she recognised it from somewhere. A voice inside of her screamed desperately she had to listen to him, and accept the fact that being strong isn't holding on, but giving in and accepting help. But she was too stubborn to listen._

_She ignored him and acted like the boisterous traffic was overpowering her sense of hearing. Her ragged breathing began to sting, just like her heartbeats._

_(1:42)_

_Once more she gave a peek over her shoulder. Her sight was blurred because all the tears, but she could still see how Hans pushed the crowd aside to overhaul her. 'Veronique!'_ _he yelled. She shut her eyes in distaste and kept sprinting. She ran away from the name, the call. People always used it when bitching at her, when she was unruly, didn't listen, was a rebel and a 'complicated child'. The girl felt how her lips narrowed in aggravation._

_(1:52)_

_'Stop chasing me and leave me alone! You don't know where I'm going through!' she yelled back. _

_Hans yelled the same sentence back, the same answer as always, the one that would always make her feel not so alone in the world that was lost in its own sins; 'We're the same, Vero!'_

_She ignored him, determined to run even faster if he dared to call her once more 'Veronique' or 'Vero'._

_She wished the name didn't exist._

_(2:00)_

_The exhaustion made her legs tremble and weak, but the Adrenalin that was rushing through her veins made sure she didn't feel it. At one point it felt as if she didn't even know how to run anymore, how to breathe, how to cry, how to keep holding on. Her legs begged her to stop but she kept running till she fell on the ground. A yell in pain escaped her lips when feeling how the cold, grey stone tiles ripped the flesh on her knee open. _

_The crimson blood began run down her skin. She wailed in pain, but didn't cry. She lifted not defeated her chin and raised quickly when Hans tried to grab her by her arm. It didn't even take three seconds or she was like a Lamborghini on top speed again, and within a minute he was lost in the throng behind her_.

_She ran with no destination till her injured leg hurt so badly that she just had to stop. She ran into a dark alley to collapse in fatigue on the ground. She panted heavily, breathlessly while she stared at her leg while sniffing. _

_(2:25)_

_After a minute of rest, she let her head rest against the wall. Victoria stared tenaciously forward with a numb gaze. Finally she realised what she'd done. There was no way back. _

_She looked up when she heard footsteps. Someone walked into the alley she lay in. _

_(2:30)_

_The adolescent, who looked to be a man, was because of the backlight depicted as a silhouette. Her eyes narrowed to see who it was. Oliver. He wore a black leather jacket, which was shrouded in that oh so well known fierce, yet musky cologne, that radiated nothing more but steamy hot late night sex and his wanton hands all over your god damn body. _

_(2:40)_

_He didn't say anything. She hoped to find genuineness in her once so nice boyfriend, but his eyes showed grimness as they darkened with the second. Then she realised that people don't change; they just show their true nature. She twitched when noticing his expression, which could be described as vicious, cold, with no love. She wanted to know where he was going to and how he'd found her. _

_(2:46)_

_Oliver ignored her and picked her up with no warning. She began to struggle against him, while yelling she wanted to be left alone, but he hissed she had to shut up. He'd never spoken to her in such way and it scared the sixteen-year-old._

_(2:50)_

_She tried to loosen herself out of his arms in resistance, but he was too strong. She almost escaped out of his firm grip, but he immediately grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and jerked her back before lashing out to hit her. A yell in pain escaped her lips and several tears made their way down her cheeks. She remembered how Michael hit her, but that was nothing compared to how hard Oliver had just slapped her. _

_In the end she hung lifelessly in his arms. She was too weak to protest. Oliver would always win. _

_Always._

_(End)_

_Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her long auburn hair swayed over the sidewalk now her head hung backwards. She was lost in his arms in bridal style, even though she couldn't find the slightest trace of romance in her boyfriend's eyes. The fact he'd hit her didn't only hurt her physically, but also mentally. A small moan in pain escaped her lips. Everything hurt._

_The sticky heat melted his skin along with his tempting, but yet oh so deceptive Prince Charming mask every girl always instantly fell for. He finally showed his true colours, his true face, his true intentions, now his layers of lies had been peeled off to reveal an opportunistic, contrived person she despised even more than her fucking life. _

_Oliver approached the street._ _The traffic sounded in the distance, vague, rustling, murmuring. He carried her to an unknown car. Her eyes widened and her heart began to pound harder in apprehension. She wanted to know what his plan with her was. _

_She wondered where he was up to, what state of mind he was in. _

_Would he also think of their last time, his lips all over her?_

_Because she kept replaying the memory in her head, it kept haunting her, even in the most enchanting nightmares he gave her. _

_He threw her in the back seat. eyes met for a second. Oliver averted his gaze. She gave him one last weak death glare, before everything turned black. _

Hours and hours later, in the middle of the night, she'd woken up in the empty room she was lying in now. The only friends to serve as her company were despair and darkness.

She looked up when she heard the footsteps again and now they approached her. Soon, the door opened, a light beam falling onto the teenager that was too weak to fight against the people and things that wanted to harm her, make her feel small till there was nothing more left but a sensitive little girl.

They could do what they want; she didn't care anymore.

The light stung to her eyes, which were used to the dark, and she quickly shut them in a reflex, but she needed to know who did this to her, who was in that car, who was so vicious to eliminate her to this place. She crawled up into a ball and cowered. Who the person was, why he'd come to her, and what he wanted to do with her were lines that repeated themselves like a mantra in her head.

The oncoming light of the corridor depicted the person, who was clearly a man, as a silhouette. The fella came closer, lowered down to the ground to kneel in front of her. Slowly, sight got better, features clearer.

She was convinced it had to be the father of Oliver, that Pitch Black, that sinner, that criminal.

The man put his hand under her chin, and he tilted it, as a silent demand to him in the eyes. She could barely open hers, so it was still a mystery for her who it was. In seconds, her head was resting so much upon his hand that it fell down to the ground like a star falling out of night sky.

His hand ran in a careful, affable way through her hair. She couldn't remember the last time someone had done touched her with so much devotion. His hand radiated an aura of tranquillity, softness. She closed her eyes firmly when realising this person could maybe switch behaviour within a second to hit her without any warning.

She'd never been in this state of paranoia, now the panic filled her mind, the fear her veins and the anger her temper. She turned her head away from him while shifting backwards, into the darkness. She whispered he had to stay away, had to stop touching her hair, and had to stop touching her.

But he didn't stop, and when she began to tremble he shushed her softly. "Calm down my girl. Everything's going to be all right, I promise. You're safe for now."

That voice. Flashbacks filled her mind, the recognition her veins and her eyes shut in astonishment open.

She pulled her head up with all the strength she had in her weak body to make sure her ears didn't deceive her. Her eyes widened in fear and astonishment when she stared into the face of a man, whose hair was auburn as hers, and whose eyes were greener than spring.

Hans_._

**END** **PART I**


	27. Chapter XXIIII PART II: where are you

**CHAPTER** **XXIIII PART II: Where are you**

Shock filled mind and thought, while she kept staring tenaciously in his eyes. She didn't blink, she didn't speak and she didn't move, until her astonishment turned into hate and she narrowed her eyes into a mortifying death glare. Never had her voice been filled with such aversion, distaste.

His expression was as unwritten as an empty note block where you write your inspiration down in.

"Oh Victoria... If only there was someone out there who loved you; then things would've been so different, you would've been so different," he whispered wistfully, as the two still didn't break their intense eye contact.

'_So_ _different'._

The words echoed it her head like a gong, a mantra.

She couldn't speak. His truthful words silenced her.

Gazes were hold, time froze and heartbeats turned into silent calls for answers. Her widened eyes moved over and over again quickly for a millimetre from left to right, her breathings turned more ragged, and her heart began to pound harder, as if it knocked on a door. She couldn't avert her eyes, she just couldn't. Something held her away from doing it, something in his eyes silently screamed she had to keep on looking in his eyes, keep on looking till she would find something.

But what?

He had this gaze, this expression she couldn't place. She heard in the memories of her past this voice, but she couldn't give it a name, she couldn't give the person a name. It were echoes, flashes of images, tiny parts of her once so happy life, memories of a giggling four-year-old on the Santa Monica beach.

The giggling four-year-old, it'd been her.

It'd been the day her dad had taken that photo of her and her mother on the beach, it had been that day that mum told her she wouldn't be alone anymore after the upcoming two months, a thing the four-year-old and the even now sixteen-year-old Victoria didn't understand. But it had been that day. That day, which was five days removed from shooting, the shooting that had changed everything.

That one evening had given her future a grim twist to leave the girl with nothing more but an empty heart.

Everyone was left with an empty heart.

And once her father had lit the house to create a sea of flames, they'd instantly kissed her body all over, from head to toe. The flames had made their way to her, ready to eat her body away, to suck the life out of her like the monoxide in the room did with the oxygen in her body. The phoenix had learned from that moment that flames were her enemy, but yet also her alley. They helped her to rise from her ashes.

After all, before a phoenix can rise, she must burn.

The flames had wrapped their conniving, bony hands around the four-year-old's throat to cut off the oxygen supply to her lungs, as the toxic gasses had filled the sensitive organs unremorsefully.

On that moment she had passed out.

The toddler had lied subconsciously, yet lifelessly on the floor between the burning ashes.

And then someone, an unknown person, had saved her.

But now, nobody would save her. Not Elsa, not Jack, not Ralph, not Faye, not Simone, not Lizzy, not her dad, not her mum, not the Smith's, not the police, not Oliver, neither Hans.

She wanted to know why the financial advisor of her foster dad wanted to kidnap her. Thereby, he used to be her best friend, her soul mate, after all. She could always tell him everything and he never looked up with a weird expression, he would never deride her; he would always explain everything she wanted to know about the subject she had a question about.

Victoria was convinced you can make mistakes, and that that was okay, but that breaking trust is not done. Then not to forget it could be compared to an eraser; with every mistake it became smaller.

And then, there was nothing left, but a person with a broken heart and hurt feelings.

"Tell me, why did you bring me here?!" Victoria hissed pissed-off. The hate she'd created for him gave her the ability to create these new expressions she didn't even know she could make.

"I couldn't just let it kill you." His tone sounded grave, wistful.

"Kill me?" she echoed. "Why? What is 'it'?," Her croaky voice died away at the end of her sentence.

"Fate."

And then he added whispering, his gaze serious; "you were warned for this Victoria, and you're also warned for the future." He moved his hand to her shoulder and exposed the place where her black henna tattoo began, to make its way over her left shoulder blade, down her spine.

Voices, flashbacks, words, and memories flooded mind and thought when the realisation of what she'd done to struck her. She remembered their conversation so clearly that it was like it was yesterday he'd said it.

_"Also, it's a warning," Hans frowned._

_"How do you know this shit?!" She turned herself to him with a raised eyebrow. ''You have experience with it?''_

_"You should know,'' Hans sighed. _

_Victoria quickly clasped her bra again and threw her shirt back over her head. She repeated her question. "For what's the warning meant?" _

_Hans faced her, his features unwritten before he spoke._

_"Close death." _

Did Hans bring her here to protect her from it? Or was he the one to bring her to it?

She could only guess.

He put his hand to her dismay once more under her chin and lifted it.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she lied and she jerked roughly her head out of his grip. In weakness she instantly sank to the ground as if she was a bird without wings.

He redeemed her from the ropes that were bond around her wrists, and finally the rough material couldn't harm her wrists anymore.

She wanted to raise, but Hans stopped her by grabbing her by her arm. He whispered in her ear, his voice warning and authoritative; "Listen Vero, -" she narrowed slowly her eyes till slits when she heard the name. "If I was smart, a thing I know you are and if were you, I wouldn't try to escape."

She ignored him and raised, even though every muscle, every jolt, every bone protested since Oliver thought it was fun to hit her. She hadn't stood on her own legs for God's sake, and she felt it; she immediately sank down to the ground and her legs trembled.

She felt Hans wrapped his arms around her waist to help her raise.

Then, she finally realised it was the room with the mysterious wall where she'd lied in for about three days now.

She hobbled out of the dark, empty room as Hans footsteps followed her. Without even thinking she turned around, her long hair swaying over her shoulder, and she shot bitchily at him with narrowed eyes; "I can go by the bathroom myself. _Thank you_."

She rolled one more time dramatically her eyes before turning around and continuing to walk. Luckily he didn't follow her anymore.

She was convinced that if he wanted her to be smart, that then he could get it…

Instead of going to the bathroom, which was in the corridor where the front door was, she opened the opposite door and tripped inside. Hans used the inlet to hang his coats in and if you would hide behind them it seemed as if you stood in a grotto behind a waterfall; in other words no one could see you.

She opened as quietly as possible the door and made her way through the sea of coats and jackets. She waited in darkness and silence. After a few minutes of still not hearing anything she opened the door once more, as quietly as possible.

If she was fast enough she could escape by taking the front door.

Peridot green eyes glared through the split of the door to see if anyone stood on the corridor. Her heart dropped and she silently gasped when she noticed Hans stood in front of her to presumably wait for her.

Without a warning his eyes flashed in her direction and before she could close the door again to hide, she knew she had to run. She sprinted with the last energy that was left in her body out of the inlet, to the front door.

It felt as if it took hours to reach it, as if she found herself in a dream where you ran, but didn't move a single millimetre forward. Her physical begged for her to stop, to give up, but her mental was too strong. Her desire for freedom overpowered the pain.

Soft cries and wails escaped her lips. She just wanted to attain that damned door! Hans footsteps echoed behind her and she knew he tried to get her back. He grabbed her by her under arm, and she yelled in fury over her shoulder he had to let her go, but he didn't listen and jerked her backwards. It'd happened all so quickly without any warning that she had no time to support herself on her elbows.

Her head collapsed into the grey stone floor. She moaned in the pain that engulfed her like a tsunami that struck shore.

She sobbed her eyes out, and buried her face in her hands while her shoulders jolted uncontrollably. A heavy headache began to pound in rhythm of her heartbeat and she gnashed teeth, so hard did it throb. She covered her head with her hands while cringing in ache.

She couldn't describe the excruciating pain she felt, the obnoxious feeling it gave her. It felt as if an explosion had occurred inside of her head, and frankly, it felt 'heavier'.

She lied on the floor, crawled up into a ball.

She hoped he would leave her alone, but he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. She began to scream in protest and yell in resistance. She was furiously drumming her fists on his back, while telling him off, but he simply ignored her with that blank, expressionless 'I-don't-give-a-shit-' face of him, which deserved an Oscar.

"I HATE YOU! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU THAT YOU TREAT ME LIKE THIS?!"

But he ignored the fuck out of her.

"HEY YOU ASSHOLE, DO YOU HEAR ME?!" she yelled at him in dismay. He entered that empty and dark room again. Then, she warned him; "I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR FUCKING BALLS OFF WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU."

She kept yelling, screaming, begging, wailing, everything she could think of, while she tried to kick him, either loosen herself out of his firm and solid grip, but he was too strong.

He finally put her down on the floor, and he again bond the ropes around her wrists. Within seconds they continued to eat her skin away like maggots did with corpses.

He stopped walking when she whispered mockingly in anger; "all the time it was you, Hans, you were the deceiver, the opportunist, but I was blind to see it, too stupid, because people kept warning me for Oliver. But now I realise it; you only became friends with me because you needed me for something, and I know you still do. I know I'm the key for the thing want, but can't have."

"You can ignore me if I'm right, protest if I'm wrong, whatever…I don't even need an answer," she added apathetically. She didn't even care anymore.

It was too late for that.

He stared at her with one last rather unwritten gaze, before he turned literally and figuratively his back to her to walk away.

But she knew he'd heard every word.

Every single one.

·

Hans opened his front door and let her in. The snowflakes on her eyelashes melted when she stepped inside the warm house. She put her coat off and gave it to Hans, who hung it on the coat stand.

She turned himself to him and spoke soberly; "yesterday, you ran after her when she ran away. How come that you didn't manage to get her back?"

"She has great endurance and runs quite fast, even though I could've easily grabbed her if I didn't have to run into a crowd of people. You know Victoria, with her svelte posture, has no effort at dodging things and people, instead of me, as a 1.90 metre tall man," he explained soberly.

"I'm interested where you think we can find her."

"Come with me, I'd like to show you something." His eyes obtrusively darkened and a devious grin flourished across his lips. She followed him and once they'd walked through the living room they soon arrived at a door. "Go and take a look."

She raised in suspicion her eyebrow at him, but didn't ask anything.

She looked up when hearing soft sniffs behind the door. It sounded as if they were in possession of a little six-year-old girl. She opened the door and a light beam fell onto a defenceless figure that was crawled up into a ball. Eloise noticed it was a young woman with auburn hair. The teen lay into the corner of the room. She was sobbing was harrowingly, and her shoulders jolted.

She was the only thing that filled the room besides darkness.

The huddled redhead buried her face in her hands, but she looked up when hearing the noise Eloise made. She met matte green eyes, which used to bear more life with them than spring.

Used to; now, not anymore.

She gasped. "Victoria," Eloise whispered in shock and she covered her mouth with her hand. The tears emerged in her eyes out of agitation. She turned in fury herself to Hans. "You monster!" she exclaimed, while a tear escaped the corner of her eye. "How can you?!" She protested when he grabbed her by her arm. "Let me go!" she cried and she tried to make a way out of his grip, but it was useless.

She'd created her own pitfall.

"Remember my warning, my love?" he hissed amusedly in her ear, while pulling her closer so her back bumped into his torso. Then, he continued whispering; "you're walking to your own death."

And with these words he threw her against the wall to leave her subconscious.


	28. Chapter XXIIII PART III: Where are you

**CHAPTER XXIIII PART III: where are you**

**OLIVER**

Hoarse moans escaped the blonde's lips and she dug inexorably her nails in the adolescent's shoulders when he redeemed her with a low grunt in pleasure. The smell of sex hung in the room of the seventeen-year-old, now the two were completely lost in their moment together.

Oliver collapsed on top of Lizzy to consecutively put his head on her chest. The two panted breathlessly, while she ran a hand through his hair. Their bodies were covered in a sleek, yet thin layer of sweat that glistened in the dim light of his bed stand lamp. Lizzy trembled in frenzy under his body and she stared wide-eyes at the ceiling, before her eyes moved to him. She stared deeply in his eyes with an incisive look, but he had the tendency to avert them; eye contact was for people who loved each other when they made love.

He didn't make love to girl, no; the fucked the hell out of them.

He silenced their eye contact by sealing her parted lips with a hungrily kiss. Her hand glided to his, which rested on her cheek. She arched her back while wrapping her arms around his neck, as he kissed her down her neck.

The scent of their ambrosia shrouded them. To be honest, it gave their moment these intense colours he could compare with fireworks exploding in a night sky.

The diamonds in Lizzy's silver infinity ring sparkled playfully, just like her eyes.

He slid out of her and collapsed next to her on the mattress. No words were spoken, no lips were parted. You could only hear their hearts pounding loudly in their chests.

As he stared blankly at the ceiling, as the memories of naked bodies shrouded in sheets, parted lips that were shimmering in mint lip balm, and soft moans flashed back in the boy's mind like a romantic movie that was replayed over and over again. But for him, there'd been nothing romantic to it.

It had been just another evening of giving each other what they liked.

Lizzy sighed dreamily in bliss. "Wow that was intense," was all the blonde could whisper apparently, while staring wide-eyed at the ceiling as if she was under trance. She turned on her side and snuggled up against his chest, before laying her hand on it. She pulled her legs up and exhaled one more time heavily, before peacefully closing her eyes.

His arm pulled her close and his hand rested on her bare back. His thoughts grew like wild weed in every direction but the direction he would expect them to grow to.

Four years ago he'd met Lizzy, or how his circle of friends always called her 'Izzy', when he decided to follow breakdance lessons. The back then twelve-year-old blonde had truly amused him with her thick Aussie accent and good comebacks –then not to talk about her rapid tongue-.

Lizzy may be a girl with crazy morals, but she was ambitious, and her rap ability made everyone bald, such a savage was she in his opinion.

He shut his eyes and dozed off in thoughts.

Lizzy's hunger for more than kissing, flirting and grabbing each other's ass ever faded, it was always there and it had always been there as well. He knew how to keep her busy with him, how to make her yearn for more; there were days he ignored her, or reacted quite monotonously when she asked something, and then a week later he gave her full attention out of nowhere by teasing the hell out of her, giving her quick winks, and by having 'accidental' physical contact with her.

The cycle drove her crazy, and within a year she'd been a time bomb, ready to explode, so desperate was she to take her clothes off for him. Oh and he'd helped her with all his love.

That one night, nearly two years ago had changed the game forever.

He, Lizzy and his friends had been laughing, smoking, and drinking liquor all night at a friend, and never had they been so 'lose' yet carefree. It were one of the many reasons why they'd been so stupid to use a Oujia board earlier that evening.

After they were done with calling old souls, they'd decided to play truth or dare.

It wasn't the version you used to play back when you used to be twelve and frisky. Oh no, in this version were the dares exhilarating, the truths shocking, and the actions risky.

An hour later everybody decided to head home. He'd offered to bring Lizzy home because he didn't have the need to take the risk of finding her raped in the gutter the next morning. And so without waiting for an answer he'd dragged drunk Lizzy -who was singing songs as hard and as out of tone as she could- to his car.

After arriving at her apartment he'd groaned 'bye', and he'd wanted to turn around, but Lizzy had instantly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to pull him inside her house. After shutting the door and pinning him against the wall she'd whispered daringly in his ear; "you think I let you go just like that huh?" before pressing her lips fiercely on his, as her feisty hands already did an attempt to throw his god damn clothes off.

**(A/N) song; 'Influence' by Tove Lo**

**You can find this only on youtube**

_(intro)_

And he'd given in. Just because he had too much fun playing with her, just because he knew she was too weak to resist him, and just because he wanted to fuck the fuck out of her.

He remembered the night so well.

_First line, take mine; I'm fine as fuck_

_Love myself tonight and I think you can feel the same_

'_I'll give you what you like," she whispered naughtily in his ear, as her intrepid hands traced over his black leather jacket before tossing it off to throw it to God-knew-where. Lizzy straddled on his lap, while her legs wrapped around his waist. He grinned extortionately at her before both bended to smooch each other from head to toe._

_Moonshine, good time; babe, you're in luck_

_Cause I will do whatever comes to mind_

_You'll go insane_

_She giggled his name over and over again while teasing the hell out of him when he began to kiss the collar of her neck, fiercely, hungrily. "Oliver truth or dare?". "Dare," he groaned while his hands were all over her God damn body._

_"I dare you to take my virginity."_

_Things I say don't usually come easily_

_There's one thing I need you now to know 'bout me_

_"This is a crazy idea," he stared wide-eyed at her. "You're crazy Iz, no you're under influence."_

_"I know and that's why I trust it."_

_Not that what she just said made any sense._

_But he didn't protest and threw her on the couch in the living room, before making his way on top of the giggling teen._

_You know I'm under the influence_

_So don't trust every word I say, I say_

_His lips made ardently their way over her cheek, down her sensitive neck, her perky breasts, her smooth stomach, as his lithe fingers undid her blouse, button by button, slowly, teasingly. Lizzy's hands were lost in his hair as he began to wantonly love-bite her body to claim it._

_When I'm under the influence_

_It's a blur, but I want my way, my way_

He remembered the way she'd gazed at him that night. Lost, but yet full with lust, as she bit her lip when undoing his clothing piece by piece. The risky words she'd whispered in his ear had never been filled with such confidence, such vehemence.

_You know I'm under the influence_

_So don't trust every word I say, I say_

_Izzy placed her hands upon his cheeks to fiercely cup them before she pressed firmly her lips on his. Her light blue blouse was unbuttoned and his eyes met her black Balconette bra. His hands immediately reached out for her body, as their tongues glided sensually over each other._

_Sounds good without making sense_

_It's a blur, but I want my way, my way_

_Her hands glided over his stomach, down, to throw his shirt over his head. He grinned at her while pulling her on top of him. He kept kissing her, kept whispering words in her ear while she enjoyed every single second of it and kept moaning he had to never stop with making her feel so loved._

_When I'm under the influence_

"_Yours truly, forever," she promised, while stroking his cheek._

_Take off, liquor; I feel the beat_

_Hold onto the floor but I keep spinnin' round and round_

More clothes had been thrown off that night, more conscience had been pushed aside, and more lust had been thrown in to make her even higher, to make her yearn even more for him and his body.

And now, three years later, she still did.

_Swing me, baby, back on my feet_

_Hiding in the crowd; we're making love without a sound_

_So to see she couldn't wait for his dick and she was literally trembling and gloating in excitement. He was convinced she looked fucking adorable._

_Things I say don't usually come easily_

_There's one thing I need you now to know 'bout me_

_He undid her from her panties, spread her legs and his tongue began to adore her in every way a woman can be adored. The mustiness, the smell of her sex, the heat, he felt ecstatic, master of the universe._

_You know I'm under the influence_

_So don't trust every word I say, I say_

_Not long after that he slid into her, as his member ripped her maidens head. She bit her under lip in pain for a second, but didn't say a word and got with the flow. Her eyes were filled with a glow of the intoxication that possessed her._

_When I'm under the influence_

_It's a blur, but I want my way, my way_

_Her arms wrapped around his neck as their noses grazed affably over each other. A soft giggle escaped her lips before he pressed his lips on hers, while cosseting her lips, her neck, and her breasts._

_You know I'm under the influence_

_So don't trust every word I say, I say_

_He'd never felt so close with her, he'd never felt so intimate with her, just because they'd never shared this level of intimacy. It was small, modest and in some way even special._

'_But yeah… what do you expect from missionary position?' he thought with a roll of his eyes._

_Sounds good without making sense_

_It's a blur, but I want my way, my way_

_When I'm under the influence_

After the pain had disappeared Lizzy had definitely enjoyed it, even when the sex wasn't perfect. He'd showed a different side him that night, a side he never showed to anyone, and it hurt him Lizzy doesn't remember anything of it anymore if he had to believe her.

_Boy meets, boy meets_

_Girl meets girl_

_This is the best place in the world_

_Their lips grazed over each other, their hips met each other with every thrust of him, as their bodies rocked steadily. He grunted lowly in pleasure as he filled her completely and Lizzy smirked at him, while her hands were all over his God damn body._

_Boy meets, boy meets_

_Girl meets girl_

_This is the best place in the world_

_Her soft moans echoed against the walls as he thrusted into her, this time faster, deeper and she shut her eyes, arched her back and dug inexorably her nails in his shoulders._

_Boy meets, boy meets_

_Girl meets girl_

_This is the best place in the world_

_Her breathings became hoarser, more raspy, her whispered words filling air as her lips were close to his ear, making things even more exhilarating. She began to drive him crazy, like a wild stallion._

_You know I'm under the influence_

_So don't trust every word I say, I say_

_He increased the pace of his thrusts, while Izzy reacted to every touch, every kiss, and every love bite, as their naked bodies felt each other, grazed over each other. He was over the moon when seeing her body, and the way she smiled at him._

_When I'm under the influence_

_It's a blur, but I want my way, my way_

_One of his fingers slid between her wet lips to double pleasure her and she shut her eyes in bliss while his name escaped her lips over and over again, like a mantra. He sucked on her rosy nubs, kissed her neck, as she tasted his fingertips._

_You know I'm under the influence_

_So don't trust every word I say, I say_

_Both felt more ecstasy, more excitement. A thin layer of sleek sweat covered their bodies, as his black hair touched her forehead. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he lay between her spread legs, which now began to wrap themselves around his waist._

_Sounds good without making sense_

_It's a blur, but I want my way, my way_

_When I'm under the influence_

_He hissed lowly in pleasure while whispering the words 'God damn it' when she was on the edge of making his come. "Damn Lizzy, fuck you," he groaned when she was teasing the hell out of him. With a last French kiss, and risky words whispered in his ear he released himself into her. It felt amazing and freeing. He'd loved every single moment of it._

_Even under influence._

_(end)_

He'd cosseted her even for his being, because deep down he wanted his best friend to feel good and comfortable when having her first time. Now, three years later, he was done with pleasing her. If she wanted from him to give her special treatment in the bedroom she was at the wrong address.

He snapped out of thoughts and caught Lizzy at staring dreamily at him, while her hand reached out to run through his messy hair. It annoyed him she always had to mess with his hair even when she knew he hated it. If he had somewhere an aversion for, then it was surely physical contact.

Look, he didn't mind placing his hand on some girl's ass, but it was more the fact he didn't like it when people touched _him_.

"We're not a thing," he warned her magisterially, and he slammed ruthlessly her hand away.

She looked up and furrowed her eyebrows, before sputtering, "but -"

"There is no 'we', there was no 'we', and shall never be a 'we', Izzy, let's make that damn clear," he supported himself on his elbows, the sheets reaching till his belly button. He moved his head roughly in her direction to stare incisively in her deep blue eyes.

Lizzy supported herself on her elbows as well, and turned her head to him to look at him. He had to restrain himself from not constantly letting his gaze move to her breasts, and so he demanded himself to face her like a man, and not like a horny twelve-year-old.

"But Oliver, what..." She stopped and averted eye contact. It was clear she searched for the right words. This wasn't the sturdy Izzy he used to know and Oliver raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "What if I've always been jealous of Victoria, because she's getting the attention I've always wanted from you? I mean I just can't stand it she's rejecting the love from you I would die for. And what if that's the only reason why I allow you to be so close to me?"

He stared in aghast at her, now finally understanding what the message was.

She loved him.

He sighed with rolling eyes. "Izzy please, do not involve me in this girl drama," he sighed irritated. "I have no time for this bullshit."

Both of them looked up when a front door opened and shut. Someone arrived home, and the only person who could be that was his father. He gave her one last unwritten, yet intense gaze, before he threw the sheets to the side and sat on the edge of his bed.

The seventeen-year-old dressed himself quickly in some boxers and sweatpants, not even bothering to wear a shirt, before he left the dumbfounded and naked Lizzy behind in his bed.

He walked into the kitchen. His dad stood close to the counter, apparently doing God-knew-what. His head was slightly bended as he fumbled with something. Oliver put his hands in the pockets of his deep blue sweatpants, as he quickly ran through his messy black hair, fixing the wild tresses that were as untameable as his extortionate personality.

In the presence of his father his American accent mostly switched automatically to British, simply because his dad had his origins in the United Kingdom, Wales to be exact. Thereby, he absolutely loathed it when someone had an American accent. Oliver's true accent was British and so he highly forced his American when being with friends or at school.

Oliver was completely lost in his own world, now his mind created thoughts which grew in every way but the way you'd expect it to grow to.

James turned around with in his hands a Semi-Automat, while he still fumbled with it. The thirty-eight year old faced his son. The scars on his face were peeling his beauty layer by layer off with every year that passed.

Oliver looked up in surprise. He hadn't thought his dad would look up, neither give him at least some sort of attention. He never did and has never done after all.

He quickly straightened his back, and faced his dad boldly, even when he had the propensity to cast his eyes down under the cold gaze of James.

James stared at him from top to bottom, his gaze judging, eyebrows furrowed. "Pam yr ydych yma?" he spoke in Welsh.

"I thought, I better show my face after two weeks of not seeing each other. Would be fun if you did the same," Oliver shot scornfully in answer at his dad, who rolled his eyes. Oliver grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and spoke, "I cleaned the kitchen. It shines like the roof of the Chrysler building," he continued, and when his dad ignored him he spoke with rolling eyes, "thank you, Oliver?"

And once more did James ignore him, to his irritation. "Why this summer outfit, Oliver? It's December." Oliver, who got in incoming message from Simone, revealed his phone and texted her back. If his dad ignored him he did too, right? He saw in the corner of his eye his father raised in pending an eyebrow upwards, while his lips pursed in dismay. "I'm waiting for an answer and I do not wish to be contradicted, neither ignored."

"Not that you don't do that with me," he murmured spryly, as his fingers moved rapidly over the screen to text his friend back.

"I have no time for childish rebel behaviour, Oliver. Become a man and then we talk."

"Yes," he groaned heartedly back.

"Now come on, tell me why you aren't wearing a shirt. I didn't raise you like this."

He looked up and imitated his father; " 'I didn't raise you like this', huh what a joke."

James' eyes narrowed till they were slits, but Oliver continued undisturbed and spat, "you didn't 'raise' me, I raised myself! I'm taking care of myself ever since I can remember. You left the house when I was twelve to leave me for the first time alone for over two months, because you had 'business' to do. Huh, you didn't even care about the fact if I had food or not, if I could save myself, because I'm as unimportant to you as this fucking wall next to me anyway!"

His father stared with an unwritten expression at him, as he let Oliver rant.

"It's just the fact you penetrated the pussy of some whore nearly eighteen years ago so you can now call yourself my 'dad', but you've never did what a dad's task is; giving love, looking after his child, complimenting him or her, spending time together, no you never did!" He blinked his tears away and kept yelling. It was nothing for him to raise his voice like this, he nearly never yelled.

"I have no mother to support me, I have no mother who wraps her arms around me just because she wants me to know she loves me, and I have no mother who kisses me on my forehead and tells me she's proud of me." Oliver roughly wiped a tear off his cheek. "I have no father who's not also my father but also my best friend because he hates me and thinks I'm a mistake that should've never existed, I have no father to do fun things with because he's always gone, and I have no father to look up to, because guess what? He's the most wanted criminal in the US and the UK," he spoke scornfully in disgust. "And I have no brothers or sisters to share my sorrow with, my suffer."

James shut his eyes and bit his under lip while whispering something unintelligible under his breath, but Oliver wasn't even busy with that.

"So if you wonder why Lizzy is always to be found here or why she's nearly always at my side then I shall tell you why: she's like my family, the sister I've never had –"

"Well if she feels like a sister to you then I'm truly amused to hear your answer when I'm asking you why you're regularly releasing your 'sorrow' and 'suffer' in her pussy." James had walked over to him and now stood across from Oliver. Their noses nearly touched and Oliver had the idea he stared at his mirror reflection. His dad was physically just an older version of him, so much did they look like, but from the inside? He just hoped he was like his mother, even when he'd never known her in person.

"You don't understand it! Victoria has the attitude of a Disney princess; she still believes in the bullshit you need love to make love! -"

"Oh Oliver shut up," his dad yelled, and Oliver had the propensity to coil backwards when noticing James' anger. "Learn some manners instead of fucking everyone but your girlfriend. One day you'll get in trouble with it and then I won't be the dad to support you, 'cause then _you__'re_ the dad," James groaned before grabbing Oliver by his underarm to smash him against the wall.

Oliver hissed in pain when the cold, unplastered wall scratched his skin open in the same way sandpaper polished wood. He sank to the floor to crouch, while moving his hand to the side of his head to check if he didn't bleed. It was nearly a year ago James had used violence against him, and he was convinced the domestic violence was over, till now then.

He shut his eyes, gritted teeth and balled his fists so firmly his nails dug in the palm of his hand.

He used to fight back against his father's short fuse, but he'd learned that if he'd shut his mouth he'd have less bruises than if he would contradict him.

He recovered himself and raised again before saying monotonously, "thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind," before leaving the kitchen after giving James one last gaze filled with hate.


	29. Chapter XXV PART I: bad blood

**I'M BACK! THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING THIS STORY.**

**PEOPLE. The flashback in this chapter is a sequel to the one you have read in chapter XVIIII.**

* * *

**CHAPTER XXV PART I: Bad Blood**

A heavy headache was to be felt. It drummed along with the woman's slow heartbeat. Eyes fluttered slowly open to take sight of all her surroundings. Darkness was shrouding her and an oppressive feeling filled her mind. It was obnoxious and Elsa didn't feel at ease. Her pupils dilated so they tried to see more and slowly, vision got better and the fear that once dominated her mind, vanished into air. She'd never liked darkness. She felt she lay on the floor, on her side and shiftings over it were made to move, but ropes that were tied around her wrists made sure she couldn't go anywhere. They were too tight and cut into her skin because of friction. She asked herself for how long she had passed out till now. She only remembered that she found Victoria almost lifeless on the ground in Hans' apartment.

Groans escaped her lips and she tried to grab her mobile that was in her pocket so she could call someone, Jack, the police, the ISA, but her hands were bonded on her back, as she still lay on her side so she couldn't move. She moved her left leg, and normally she would feel how her mobile would be pressed against her upper leg and hip, but now there was nothing. Hans had taken it from her as well her gun that she normally always had with her.

She looked up when vision got clearer now her eyes got used to the dark and she saw how she lay in another room, another house. It smelled different. A rather small window made sure some beams of sun or moonlight fell into the room, but it wasn't that much. White sterile walls were her only friend and a wooden floor was where she had been lying on for God-knows-how-long.

A teen with long auburn hair, a sharp jawline and a well-formed nose - if you looked from the side- leaned with her back against the wall.

"Victoria," Elsa whispered hoarsely in her aghast.

Victoria looked up, her look determined and she was surprised so to see when someone called her name. "Wow you passed out for almost a day, Elsa. Hans has brought us to another house, another apartment and it's Oliver's. I remember this room. They never use it, because they don't need to. Oliver had once groaned something about too much space, huh what a luxury problem. Plus damn I'm hungry," she wailed softly while she stared down at her lap. Victoria talked a lot for her being and it looked like she was in a mania.

Well better that than a manic episode.

"Me too," Elsa whispered, before she let her head sink to the ground again, still feeling her headache pounding along with her heartbeat. Hans had done a great job at smashing the first object he could find upon her head to get her into a dreadful and nagging comatose.

Elsa and Victoria looked up when a silhouette walked into the room. It was Hans. She asked herself why he was here. He locked the door behind him and Victoria hissed low and mortifyingly when she saw him, while a groan escaped her lips for some reason. Something had happened between the two Elsa noticed; she averted eye contact. He had food with him on a platter, like he could read thoughts.

He knelt, put it in front of Victoria, released her out of her ropes but Victoria struggled against him. He mumbled magisterially she had to stay calm. "Here princess," he spoke timidly, while he shoved food towards her.

Victoria snorted, wrinkled her nose and sniffed arrogantly while lifting her chin. "I'll never eat something of you again, you traitor," she hissed pissed-off, as she stared in his eyes. "Thereby, I'm not hungry," she spoke stubbornly, but the sound of her stomach begging for food was a second later to be heard. Like it wanted to play games with her and this plight.

The corners of his mouth lifted in a devious twitch, while he raised an eyebrow to his amusement. "Oh then I'll take it back, right?" Victoria bit her lip in seduction, because of the food that stood across her but then still remained silent while she averted her gaze from him.

"Still the same cheekiness and stubbornness. You look so much like Aurelie," Hans snickered cunningly, before he raised from his kneeling position and turned around to walk away.

Victoria's eyes shut open in astonishment and her gaze was filled with life again. "Hans stop! What do you know about my mother?!" she yelled after him. Hans turned around, as the fella raised amusedly an eyebrow at her.

"Enough to know you are a copy of her. Now, I'll give our picky princess her food tomorrow evening is that good _Your Highness_?" he asked spryly in a lilt with a teasing tone, before he wanted to leave her again but she called him once more.

"Hans, wait! I'll eat!" she quickly yelled and Elsa saw how he turned around, again planted that devious cunning smile on his face, before he walked back and shoved the plate back in front of her and Victoria almost dove towards the food.

"Lasagne. You dick. You know that's my favourite food," she groaned before she didn't know how fast to eat it, since she was emaciated after almost two days. Elsa knew she had to calm down with eating before her food would come back as quickly as that it came in now.

"Home made, à la Hans Westerguard, hope our _Queen Victoria_ likes it," he groaned at her, rolling slightly with his eyes, before he walked towards the door, unlocked it and left again. Victoria simultaneously rolled with her eyes when he spoke his sentence.

When she was done, she lay in seconds on the ground, placing a hand on her stomach, while groaning she had eaten too fast and too much. There was silence for a few seconds before she spoke. "I can't believe how much he has changed Elsa. I remember him so different... I don't even know why we're here."

"Tell me, how do you recognise him?" Elsa asked with a sigh, now she had nothing better to do then listen to a good flashback.

"The night I slept at him, after he first called with Pitch, you know? I fell asleep, but then I woke up again, because of my PTSD. He was so different…" and she began to tell.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

**VICTORIA**

She yelled in fear and anxiety while she raised in the panic that was trying to drown her like a flood of nightmares and she made rapidly her way out of Hans' arms that were first safely wrapped around her. The fifteen-year-old scared girl felt how the sweat was raining down her back and was on her forehead. The hot salty tears ran down her cheeks.

She could only cry, while she felt how her under lip trembled in agony, and after the fire she had been in, she had always been scared of the moment she would wake up and she always had the anxious feeling there may be some fire, enclosing her since that was exactly what had happened eleven years ago. She felt and heard how the sheets moved and Hans turned around in his sleep, towards her and soon she saw how he opened his eyes to reveal a colour that was greener than spring. Damn it, it wasn't her purpose to wake him up.

"Victoria, what's happening?" Hans asked sleepily, while he yawned and raised a bit to lean with his back against the headboard of his bed. He looked at her from head to toe before he rubbed his eyes with the tip of his index finger and thumb, placing them close to his tears ducts.

Victoria buried her face in her hands, while her shoulders jolted along with her sobs. She felt Hans' hand on her shoulder. It was comforting and soothing but she felt so panicked. "I-It was a nightmare. It was the nightmare where I was so scared of it would come," Victoria sobbed harrowing. Her chest was going up and down like crazy, sometimes it would jolt out of nowhere forward in her sob, and her heart was beating in her chest like there was no tomorrow.

Hans hugged her and she felt how his muscular arms were wrapped around her while he shushed her softly in a way it was going to be alright and that she was safe now. She tried everything to have something to hold to; she clamped herself upon him. Hans softly rocked her in his arms. She began to breathe more and more rapid, it was quick and she felt how a panic wave was attacking her like never before.

She gasped for air and she began to breathe faster and faster; she wasn't getting any air in her lungs and she had the idea she was hyperventilating.

Yells, a gunshot and fire were the sounds and images that ran through her mind. She closed her eyes firmly when she got the image again of her mother lifeless on the floor after she was shot. It didn't even help to close her eyes; the flashbacks were imprinted in her mind.

"Breathe Victoria, breathe." Hans spoke seriously, while they broke apart in their hug. It was still dark in the bedroom and soon, Hans switched the light on so the bedroom filled itself with light and now she was finally able to see his face. Somehow she wasn't scared anymore now. His auburn hair was a bit messy and it looked really funny as well cute on him.

She gasped for air while she cried even more and she was inhaling and exhaling so fast she had no idea what was wrong with her. She had the idea she was slowly stitching while she wrapped her hands around her neck and she began to cry in her panic.

"Listen to me, inhale for five seconds-"

"D-do y-You wa-want me d-dead or-or something?!" Victoria snapped quickly and she couldn't believe what he said. 'inhale for five seconds', when getting no fucking air in your lungs. She was convinced this guy was insane. Her chest kept on going up and down like crazy just like her heart, while tears ran down her cheeks. She felt how she trembled and the teen softly wailed almost instinctively for her mum, although she knew she wouldn't come.

"No, not at all. But we'll calm you down together okay? Now inhale," Hans said calmly while he inhaled just like her. She tried to keep her breath, but it was hard. Her chest was still jolting and going up and down even when she inhaled and kept her breath. She felt how another tear ran down her cheek when she blinked. She was so scared she wouldn't get any air but she decided to trust someone after years. "Good, you're doing well. Don't give up."

Victoria had to give in; Hans was right. How more she inhaled slowly, how more she calmed down and the feeling of having the idea of not any getting air slowly faded. He kept on talking softly, not panicking with her while the two didn't broke eye contact. His voice was calm and soothing and he took slowly her panic away.

After two minutes she was able to breath again and now normally. Hans sighed a bit while he looked deeply in her eyes. "Now, I hope you feel better, even though you thought I wanted to kill you when I said 'inhale for five seconds'," Hans snickered softly while his voice was raspy, since he just woke up. Victoria looked at the alarm clock and it was around half past three in the night.

Victoria giggled softly but she averted her gaze from him while she felt how his hand laid on her lower arm. "You want hot chocolate?" He asked out of the blue.

Victoria looked up to meet his gaze, trying to see if he was joking, but his face was genuine and serious. She cocked meticulously an eyebrow at him in her suspicion at him for a second. "B-but it's in the middle of the night," she stammered mumbling, now pulling up her legs, and she wrapped her arms around them before she leaned with her back against the headboard.

"Who cares, I can't sleep often as well, and I think you can't just sleep again if I say have to go back to sleep now," he shrugged friendly, and he already raised from the bed, put on a black bathrobe, and he tied the strings around his waist, before he stepped into his slippers. Victoria raised with him, while she hugged herself when she felt the cold air flow attacking her body. She only wore her undergarment and a spaghetti strap shirt, so she was already chattering teeth and she felt how her nipples became hard in the cold and arose in her spaghetti strap shirt, but she tried to cover it up in her embarrassment by crossing her arms over her chest as the goose bumps arose.

Hans probably saw her goose bumps and grabbed another one while he walked towards her. The dim light of the corridor fell into the bedroom, onto them. Victoria stared at the back of the bathrobe and something was embroidered in the back of it. _'Lilly'_. Must've been from that fiancée. She asked herself why he would still have a bathrobe from his ex, because she assumed that Lilly was now his ex.

She wanted to open her mouth to ask if it was okay but she shut her mouth. "I have an other one for you as well, let me-" he stopped when he looked at her maimed arms and her cuts where the dim light had fallen on. Victoria's eyes widened in shock and she tried to hide her arms behind her body while she turned hers away from him, scared to death that he would see it and that one of her best kept secrets were about to be revealed.

"What on earth have you done, Victoria?" Hans asked worriedly, although there was an authoritative tone in his voice. She tried to hug herself in her cold, also being embarrassed about her nipples arising in the spaghetti strap, but at the same time he wasn't allowed for her feeling to see her arm and discover a good kept secret of her. He slowly reached out his hand to grab her arm and pull it from behind her back. She tried to struggle against him, but to her dismay he was stronger than her.

His eyes widened in shock when he stared at the cuts that dominated her pale skin. She tried hard to jerk her arm out of his hand, while she wailed softly but it was helpless. "Victoria... are you doing what I think you are doing?" He asked slowly, pronunciation every word while he articulated properly so she couldn't make up an excuse for 'not understanding' him.

She felt how the colour drained away from her face when it was clear he wasn't as stupid as she hoped he would be. "I-I... It's..." she was searching for words and inspiration, but everything failed. Her eyes darted from left to left, hoping even the _ceiling_ could give her inspiration. She bit her lip so hard it truly hurt. "I-I'm sorry," she sighed while she stared down at the ground, not daring to face him in her embarrassment and she hugged herself, still trying to get it warmer while she was chattering teeth.

Hans sighed worriedly while her arm was still in his hand, and he looked at the cuts. "Victoria, you should really have a good reason for this," Hans spoke softly but serious while he trailed carefully with his fingers over her cuts so she flinched in pain for a second but Hans immediately apologised and pulled his hand back.

"I do... It's just... I don't know who I am, I have no mother, no father, no family, my boyfriend Oliver is a dick and I can't break up or he'll plan vengeance on that I rejected his love, he... " Victoria was crying in despair. "He said I had to take XTC-"

"You did?" Hans interrupted her timidly, but in a warningly tone and he looked deep in her eyes. His were severe but also filled with anxiety and worry.

She felt she blushed furiously. "Eh... Kind of…twice. That was why I fucked my audition up when I promised to Elsa I wouldn't take them."

Hans frowned and he bit his under-lip. "Victoria, don't take them please. It's dangerous," Hans warned her in a serious tone, while his green eyes were authoritative

'#preach' she thought. "I know! I actually didn't want it, but he pushed me," Victoria spoke softly while she again didn't dare to face him in her embarrassment. What would he think of her?! 'You stupid fool' a voice in her head snapped. "Please, don't tell Lewis and Katherine!" she begged pleadingly while she faced him again to look in his eyes that if he promised it he would speak the truth.

Hans sighed heavily while he ran for a moment through his bed head hair. "I do, but under the circumstance that you won't take them again," he said seriously while he crossed for a second his arms. "Just say 'no' to Oliver in the future, make him clear that there are borders and that he can't do what he wants."

Victoria nodded softly, although she had the idea this was empty promise one hundred lately. She hugged herself to keep herself warm, but she failed. "You're cold, aren't you?" Hans asked softly on to caring tone, while he smiled softly at her. She nodded softly while chattering teeth. With no warning she hugged him tightly to get some warmth of his bathrobe, but deep down she needed a hug from him. Besides, he was like a best friend actually of her.

She clamped herself upon him and wrapped her arms around him, while she laid her head upon his chest and smiled softly when she finally found someone to hug who could handle the world and could take care of her. It looked like Hans was flabbergasted for a moment, but in seconds, she felt how his warm arms were wrapped caringly around her. The two hugged each other long and Victoria finally felt safe in his arms after years of not knowing who you could trust. Last time she hugged someone was years ago. She didn't want to lose him somehow.

Hans nuzzled for a few seconds in her long red hair, sometimes stroking through it with his hands, while Victoria buried her face in his chest, feeling happy for some reason again, since she had the idea he could take away her pain.

They broke apart and Hans looked at her. "Let's get you some hot chocolate." he smiled brightly and together they walked towards the kitchen.

* * *

"You have a chocolate moustache!" Victoria giggled rambunctious, while she pointed at Hans. She held her mug of hot chocolate in her hands, and wrapped them around it.

"You too," Hans giggled with her before the two burst out in their laughter with the sight of them. She had never seen him like this before. He was so open, nice and friendly. His green eyes were filled with joy and happiness while they were normally quite severe and serious. Especially when he had appointments with Lewis. Victoria swallowed the last bit of her hot chocolate and she put it down on the counter with a slight thud, before wiping off her chocolate moustache with her arm and faced him, still giggling.

"I feel sweaty after that nightmare," she spoke with a sigh and she averted her gaze from him.

Hans in the meantime already walked to the sink to clean the mugs, and he spoke while he rinsed them quickly. "If you want to, you can have a shower," he mumbled absently while he put the rinsed mugs on the counter before drying them with a dishcloth, while he simultaneously turned himself towards her. She nodded while she rubbed for a second her eyes in her fatigue. "Pass the door at the right side of my bedroom, and there it is," he smiled softly while he put the mugs in the cupboard.

Victoria nodded while she turned around and walked towards the bathroom.

* * *

She turned the shower off, opened begrudgingly the door of the shower cabin, wanting to stay longer under the shower, feeling how the hot water flowed down her body. She groaned softly when she felt how the cold air attacked her skin, and in seconds goose bumps arose on her skin. She began to tremble and chatter teeth in her cold.

She wanted to look in the mirror that was across her if she stepped out of the shower but it was damp.

Her eyes darted from right to left in the bathroom, searching for a towel. She found them, but they lay in an inlet, on a height of more than 1.85 meters and she asked herself why the fuck he would lay his towels so high. She rolled with her eyes while she tried to jump to get them, but in vain. Hans was tall enough to reach the pile, but she didn't.

She cursed heartedly, mumbling words that looked like something about logics and the difference between having brains and actually using them as the girl jumped up and down, while she panted slightly.

She rolled annoyed with her eyes when she couldn't reach the pile for the fourth time when she jumped and grunted in her dismay of not being tall enough although she was 1.75 meters and then decided to just ask him, even when she was standing here, naked as a trimmed poodle. She truly asked herself why she always had to be in these awkward situations. "Hans, could you get towels for me please? I can't reach them!" she almost yelled while she crossed her arms, jerked one hip to the left and leaned on her right leg, and she stared at the white ceiling.

"_What_?" she heard him yelling back while footsteps came closer to the door.

Victoria rolled annoyed with her eyes. "TOWELS. ME; FREEZING TO DEATH," she yelled back before dramatically casting her eyes to the ceiling and then slightly rolling them.

"Can I come in?" he asked gently and nice while knocking.

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes firmly. ''He's your best friend, he's your best friend, he's your best friend,'' was all she could whisper to herself to calm herself down as she hugged herself helplessly.

"Yes," she sighed again, and in seconds the door opened by Hans. He looked for a second up when he saw her like this, but he acted like he didn't see it and luckily she felt he wasn't staring at her or something, and that made her feel more comfortable, since she felt really insecure about herself how she looked.

A voice in her voice she snapped she looked awful since she was as pale as a ghost, had a B almost A cup, and last, but not least; the cuts were dominating her skin.

He walked past her, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the trembling girl, before laying his hands upon the sides of her shoulders to rub her warm and dry, while the soft material absorbed the damp water drops on her skin. He was very careful on the places where she had her cuts, while he smiled warmly at her.

The was warm and big, fuzzy and she was so sleepy that she could curl up in the corner of the bathroom now, close her eyes and dream away. "Thank you," she mumbled when he was done with her arms.

"Did someone ever named you a ginger?" she asked softly.

"One guy once. I made short shrift with him. And you?" he asked amusedly as he stood across from her.

"When I was six I was at a foster family which was really nice, but the kids at school were just assholes. They called me a ginger," she spoke softly as she groaned heartedly. "They always shut me out," she added mumbling, while staring down at the ground.

"I would never shut you out,"

She knotted the towel around her body and parted her lips to speak. "My hair is still red when it's wet. Is that normal? Because I know a girl and she has blonde hair and when it's wet, it's dark brown to almost black," Victoria spoke mumbling, while Hans carefully squeezed her hair, so the water drops fell down, so it became dry and slowly and her auburn hair became more and more her normal colour. He laid her hair to the side of her shoulder. Hans stood behind her and began to assiduously braid her hair with no warning. She giggled softly, while she gave him the elastic that was around her wrist.

''You are crazy,'' she grinned.

''How's going with your hobbies? Still into ballet? I thought you said you used to do horse riding?'' Hans said snickering softly while he braided her hair like a master, his fingers working fast down her hair and in seconds, he tucked it into an elastic turned her around while he crossed his arms.

''Yes, I'm still into ballet. But I've quit horse riding. When I lived in Texas with my fifth foster home they had horses and such. I rode all day, but then I was replaced to Burgess, some city in Pennsylvania,'' she sighed.

"Well your Highness, my Princess, Milady, My Queen, whatever you wish for-" Victoria giggled but she tried to cover it up with a playful death glare. "Let's dress you and then get back to sleep, huh," he laughed with a smile.

He left and soon Victoria dressed herself again and when she was pancaking her braid, Hans knocked on the bathroom door. "_It's almost four o'clock in the night and I know you're doing your hair now. I bet it for five dollars_," she knew he was smirking cunningly now.

Victoria sighed heavily while she stared at herself in her reflection but then a devious smirk spread across her face. "Good. But then you give me tomorrow an ice cream in Central Park."

She heard how he laughed at the other side of the door. He opened it and stepped inside the bathroom and he spoke. ''No."

"Yes," She smirked back.

"No."

"Yes."

Hans stood in front of her, crossing his arms, straightened his back so he tried to intimidate her, while he raised coldly -although she knew it was acting- an eyebrow at her. Victoria mimicked him while she daringly raised her eyebrow. "Weren't you so tired?" Hans teased her while he pinched her cheek for a second. Victoria laughed while she pinched his cheek back while sticking out her tongue at him.

"Oh come here you." Hans laughed, and Victoria laughed and ran out of the bathroom, into the bedroom and jumped on his bed, before she ducked under the sheets, giggling rambunctiously. Hans chased her, while she heard him speaking. "Wait till I find you, Veronique,'' Hans groaned teasingly, calling her on her full name, while she knew he wore his immaculate devious smirk.

"Hey it's Victoria!" she protested while she flipped the sheets over, leaning with her back against the headboard and she faced him with crossed arms. She covered her mouth with her hand when she realised she'd spoken out loud and that he could see her now.

"Ha! Found you!" Hans laughed while he dove towards her, to tickle her and in seconds the room was filled with laughter of Victoria and the devious snickering of Hans as well. Victoria squirmed under his tickles. while she tried to tickle him back, but in vain.

Victoria found his weakness-which was in the side of his waist- so Hans lay in seconds also laughing on the bed with a giggling fifteen-year-old next to him. Hans pleaded her to stop, but Victoria was ruthless in her teasing while she had gotten in the meantime pain in her tummy from all the laughing.

Victoria collapsed hard on top of him, still laughing, while Hans cringed for a second. She began to tickle him again, while he laughed and tried to stop her, but she was relentless. Before she stopped, she made a gun with her hand and acted like she shot him so Hans played the game along; laid his hand on his chest made a yell in 'pain', closed his eyes and lay lifeless on the mattress with Victoria on top of him, one leg on one side of his waist and the other one on the other side of his waist.

She cocked her head a few degrees to the left, while raising an eyebrow at him, and she looked at him when he didn't move anymore.

She rolled playfully with her eyes while she laid her hands on his shoulders, and began to shake him hard while bouncing up and down to make sure he was going to be awake soon, but he still didn't move.

"Hans! Wake up!" Victoria sighed laughing on a singing and sighing tone like a kid who was whining for an ice cream. She pricked him with her finger in his stomach, like he was a dead animal that was hit by a car, lying on the side of the road to see if it still lived.

She sighed while she looked at him. He was good at this, playing dead. She asked herself why he wasn't an actor instead of a financial advisor. She observed him. He was probably around the thirty-eight years old, maybe forty but he looked still very young and he had practically no wrinkles or something and he was pretty muscular. His red auburn hair soothed him.

She looked at his bed stand where a photo frame was placed on next to his alarm clock. She climbed off him, reached to it, took it in her hands stared at a photo of a baby Hans had in his arms. She asked herself who this baby was. She didn't even know if this was his daughter or son, since the baby wore white clothes. She groaned in irritation while she tried to see how the baby looked. 'It' had blue eyes and red hair, and stared with a dazed expression in the camera, but Hans smiled brightly.

"She is sweet isn't it?" she heard a soft voice behind her, and she knew it was Hans, who was now leaning against the headboard with his back while he had turned his head towards her. So to see he had observed her in the meantime.

She didn't know how fast she had to put the photo frame back in embarrassment and she tried to act like she didn't do anything but Hans saw everything go his amusement. "Is that your daughter?" she asked curiously, while she cocked her head slightly to the side. Hans rolled slightly over to the side of the bed where Victoria was lying and grabbed the photo frame in his hands while he looked at it. They both were laying in the width on the bed, on their stomachs while they supported themselves on their elbows.

''Yes, that's my daughter,''

"She has blue eyes," Victoria commented ascertaining, while she looked at Hans, moving her head towards him. He had clearly clear venom green eyes. "Do you miss her?" Victoria asked softly and a bit hesitantly while she looked at the man who was now smiling through the tears in his eyes.

"Huh, You should know. I miss her so much," Hans spoke aghast almost whispering while his voice was hoarse for a second, and he still looked at the photo in the photo frame. Victoria laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Victoria now saw a golden bracelet lying on his bed stand next to where the photograph first lay on. She picked it up and now saw that there was a Greek engraving in it. 'μου πολύτιμος θυγατέρα_, Nike_.'

"Nike? Was that the name of your daughter? Why Nike? I don't understand it," Victoria asked softly, while she studied the engraving, not understanding what was engraved and what 'Nike' meant. The only thing she knew of the name was that she had shoes of a perceive named 'Nike'.

"Nike is her Greek name, so yes in that kind of way... it's her name." Hans smiled softly.

"Her Greek name? And Nike?" she raised her eyebrow. That name was new for her in a way of that she'd never heard of this name for a girl.

''I think you're thinking of the perceive 'Nike', but I'm not talking about your white Nike Air Max shoes Vero, I'm talking about the goddess Nike,''

"What's her appearance?'' she asked curiously.

"She was according to the myths a good friend of Zeus, the most powerful god, was befriended with Ares, god of war, and had huge wings, plus, she was always at the front,''

"I don't know her. All that mythology shit... I don't understand it," she mumbled heartedly.

"That's alright. I understand, but it's quite interesting," Hans sighed while he laid the bracelet back on his bed stand.

"What is engraved in it?" Victoria asked curiously, while she glanced to the side.

"'_My precious daughter, Nike'._ The bracelet was actually a present for her fifth birthday that would be within a month, but due to an occasion she hasn't made it," Hans spoke softly while the grief was to be heard in his voice.

"Is she dead?" Victoria asked softly, while she leaned with her head against Hans' shoulder as the two sat with their stomachs on the bed, elbows supporting in the mattress.

Victoria tried to get eye contact with him but in vain. He stared forward, while a silence arose. But then, he spoke.

"No."

**(A/N) Once Upon A December, but the piano version of Emile Pandolfi, but the person on youtube who has uploaded this song is called by user name 'jybh012'. Maybe you think the lyrics begins immediately, but it's not. It's the intro what you have here.**

It was silent for a moment, when Victoria casted her eyes down and she decided to speak. "I know how it is... Missing family. I miss my dad too. I don't think my mum still lives. But my dad, he has to live." Somehow she always switched from opinion; one day she thinks both of her parents live, then she thinks they are both dead, but she was just so lost in morality.

"He's closer than you think, Victoria," Hans smiled softly while he looked at her, eyes friendly and genuine.

"How do you know?" Victoria asked almost mockingly while she gnashed teeth in her incomprehension, and she stared at the baby in the photo, not looking at him while she sighed a bit.

"I feel it," Hans whispered and Victoria handed the photo frame over to him again and he laid it on his bed stand again, before he faced the confused fifteen-year-old.

"Where?" Victoria asked naïve and uncomprehending.

"Here," Hans smiled before he pointed at her chest, to her heart. Victoria giggled rambunctiously while she smiled brightly at him.

Hans wrapped his arms around her in a second, rolled over to his side of the bed with her in his arms, while she couldn't release herself out of his grip, but it was a fun game. She tried to playfully pull his arms away but Hans was much stronger. He crawled up into a ball, still holding her in his arms on his side, while Victoria turned, so their chests were against each other. She laid the side of her head against his chest to hear the most soothing sound in the world that has always made her calm: a heartbeat.

In seconds, he began to softly sing her asleep in his arms, as he sang a song that was close to her heart.

_Dancing bears, painted wings_

_Things I almost remember_

She loved this song; it made her feel calm, made her feel like a little girl again and she had the idea she wanted to crawl up into a ball, be safe in the arms of her parents, while the thunder storm raged on outside and then she would lay safely in the arms of her father who would always comfort her back then.

_And a song someone sings_

_Once upon a December_

Hans sang softly, while he ran for a second through her long red hair and Victoria giggled softly before she yawned, exhaled and felt how she let go of her worries before she closed her eyes in fatigue.

_Someone holds me safe and warm_

_Horses prance through a silver storm_

She slowly began to feel sleepy while she slowly felt for her feeling as light as a feather, feeling the warmth of Hans' body, feeling how someone was here to comfort her, could handle the world, the real bad world and it made her feel somehow safe.

_Figures dancing gracefully_

_Across my memory_

She closed her eyes and memories of how happy she was flood her mind, her thoughts, her heart. She felt how a tear escaped her eye. Half out of happiness now she knew deep down there was still this thing called love and grief because she wanted someone to hold to, have a family, she wanted to be loved. She wanted that she was little again, little and fragile. She felt safe for this very moment. It looked like Hans knew how to calm her down, sing her asleep, while she closed her eyes to hear the melody. That melody... It was so deep, pure, fragile, sad, and yet hauntingly beautiful.

_(1:30)_

She felt light, like she was in a dream, feeling the emotion of the song and she had the strange feeling she wanted to grab her ballet pointes, put them on and dance along with the music, while she wouldn't the footsteps of someone else, wouldn't followed the rules of dancing, no, she would only follow her heart, feeling the music, hearing how her heart pounded along with the comforting serene rhythm, while she closed her eyes, dancing under a golden pavilion under the moonlight, ivies growing around the balustrades.

She could dance and dance and dance, till her feet would hurt and then she would collapse on the ground, while she moonlight would take her, would shine down upon her in all it's glory till she would close her eyes.

Maybe she could create a world where she_ do_ wanted to be... Of course she played in the musical where Lila has her own world, but what if she could create her own world, where she could dance with no worries, be free, was loved and surrounded by her mother, her father... Ralph. She wanted to dance with him, no one else.

They would never break eye contact, he would twirl her around, she would dance on her pointe shoes, she would feel how he laid his hand on her back, how he would take her away from reality, dance to al what you feel, what you wanted to feel, because only in her dancing she had enough valour to show she loved him with whole her heart, not Oliver. She wanted to feel how the love would run in her veins.

_Someone holds me safe and warm_

_Horses prance through a silver storm_

_Figures dancing gracefully_

_Across my memory_

His voice was soft, beautiful and he could actually sing really good, something she didn't expect from him. She softly sang it along with him, first not daring to sing with him, so she sang really soft, mumbling it with him but when the chorus came she sang it with him, in two voices, she singing a tone higher.

Victoria didn't know how to place it. The song was so recognisable from a memory... It was weird while she knew every word what was coming next. Every word. She thought she was too old for this song but deep down she still was little, fragile and a just a little girl.

She loved the melody, how it came right out of people's hearts. The song had a hauntingly magical setting, the melody was hypnotising, the singing was angelic and that combination made her feel like she was in another world where there was not wit.

_Far away, long ago_

_Glowing dim as an ember_

Victoria closed her eyes, snuggled up against him, willing to hear his heartbeat while she knew everything was going to be alright now, while the two still sang and for her feeling it was in perfect harmony or she was just high as fuck from the hot chocolate he gave her.

She hoped there was a world where you could live in oblivion, dance all night, all day, see how the sun would rise while she danced and she danced on her point shoes, while she hoped she could dance for ever.

_Things my heart used to know_

_Things it yearns to remember_

She was being dragged to her past, but now the beautiful things. She remembered a blur vision of her mum and her sitting on the beach while her father helped her filling her tile with sand and mud so she could build a sand castle with him. She remembered how her mum took photos of her and her dad while building the sand castle.

She remembered how she talked somehow always to the tummy of her mother but she now didn't understand why she always did that. She remembered the scent of her mother, her soft auburn hair and her friendly blue eyes. She remembered her voice as sweet and soft as honey.

Victoria was too sleepy to sing with him the last part, so she felt now she dreamed away in his arms, while Hans sang the last words, running through her auburn hair, caressing it behind her ear.

_And a song someone sings_

Victoria felt how she dozed off, finding her way in her own world, in the dream she made.

She danced that night under the pavilion in the moonlight, while a comforting feeling filled her heart.

It was love.

_Once upon a December_

Both persons fell asleep in their fatigue, both dreaming about their loss of family.

Family, love, warmth, safety.

One of them dreamed how it could be.

And the other one how it should be.

**END FLASHBACK**

* * *

Elsa was silent when Victoria had spoken all her words. Then she parted her lips to speak wistfully.

"He has changed, Elsa,'' and she continued;

''Now he has nothing more but a frozen heart.''

* * *

**END SPLIT CHAPTER**

**OKAY SORRY FOR FLASHBACK CHAPTER! NEXT CHAPTER HAS SOME SERIOUS VIOLENCE. AND OMG PEOPLE FINALLY I WILL EXPLAIN ALL THE UNCLEAR THINGS IN THIS STORY! -ALMOST ALL THE UNCLEAR SHIT- MUAHAHA! PITCH HAS SOME DAMN GOOD STORY TO TELL USSSSS AND DAMN WE'LL GET SOME DAMN GOOD VIOLENCE. The chapter title has to do with it. HINT!**

**LOVE YOUU ALL!**

**please guys just review it's not that hard :) **

**Responses to reviews:**

**The Atlantean: Hey Liv, I'm so glad we talked well on messager about all the probs we had and such. I mean it you are a really really good friend and I don't want to lose you. Thank you for your nice review!**

**Beyonalovelyxox: THANKS SO MUCH! I am glad you are liking the story so far! Believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg ;)**

**guest: idk, I'm in a writers block with that story. With this once absolutely not.**

**Kira: aww you're so sweet! Where are you from? aaww the name of my story... I somehow love it too, if that doesn't sound weird or arrogant. It's just true; vengeance is always there to take love away. Nemesis is on my side muhahaha -Nemesis is goddess of revenge/vengeance in the Greek mythology ;)- TVoL- where your sin is as dark as the Nyx, but your truth bright as Eos and where Aphrodite and Nemesis team up! Try to guess what I mean :D I look forward to your review. and don't worry to use the internet for the greek goddesses names!**


	30. Chapter XXV PART II: bad blood

**Hello my fellow reader,**

**A happy 2016 and I'm sorry for the late update, but there's happened a lot in my private life. I will spare you the details, but trust me it wasn't fun. Now it's fortunately slowly getting better.**

**Thank you for reading this story and always being there for me, you all mean a lot to me. **

**Warning for this chapter: the level of violence is heavily explicit in the last part. I've warned you. Sorry for the long chapter, but I had to write detailed. You, my dear reader, deserve the best.**

**JAMES= PITCH BLACK. Thank you.**

**CHAPTER XXV PART II: Bad Blood**

**ELSA**

"Well Elsa, until now I've always been the one to share my whole life and secrets, but I think it's time for you to talk now," Victoria began business-like, and she moved her body to Elsa, which was a sign in body language of interest.

"Well... Okay, I was born in 1988 on Christmas evening in Chicago. I was three years old when I got a baby sister Anna. As soon as I could walk I practically ice skated," Victoria giggled, "so I was always to be found on ice and my name was Elizabeth. -My parents wanted to give me privacy so see it as a show name-. Summarised my childhood was a fairytale, but when I became twelve everything changed; a boy moved from Boston to Chicago, and he went to the same school as me.

"Why did he move to Chicago?"

"It's kind of complicated and a not so fun story,' Elsa sighed wistfully and she bit her under lip.

"Oh...what was the name of the boy?"

"Jack, Jackson Overland." When Elsa had spoken her words with a certain gloat in her eyes Victoria's eyes widened in shock and she shifted on the floor to sit up straight.

"Wait is that Jack?! You've known him from since you were young?!" she almost exclaimed. "Your husband?!"

"Yes, his name was Jackson Overland back then. He changed it after a certain…occasion. Jack wasn't popular, mostly because he was known to be quite sensitive and well…insecure. Apparently those things were legit reasons for the bullies to make fun of him. But I was convinced from moment one he was a very nice boy. When we met for the very first time at the Smith's you asked why Jack has platinum hair, well his real hair colour is brown.''

"I knew that little shit dyed it," Victoria giggled. Elsa couldn't suppress a grin.

Elsa continued; ''I gave him a chance –as one of the few kids- and we became friends. Soon we discovered we both had a weakness for ice sports, so he offered to help me with getting better at ice-skating.''

''When I was thirteen I skated national competitions and everybody in the country knew me. For my privacy my parents gave me a show name, Elizabeth Vintre. To keep my privacy even more I dyed my hair brown."

Victoria leaned with her head against the wall, as she listened attentively. "But then one afternoon we went skating on a nearby pond. It was March and the ice was thawing. Deep down we knew the ice was too thin….'' Elsa groaned. Then she continued. ''Nothing happened until Jackson and I sat down on the frozen pound to take a rest after ice-skating for over two hours. As we were talking and laughing I suddenly felt cracks forming underneath me. Before I could do anything I fell into the ice-cold water. I nearly drowned and luckily Jack jumped in after me to save me. Jackson grabbed my hand, but he didn't manage to swim to the ice hole. Then someone unknown saved us. I owe the person so much…''

"I assume you still don't know who it is,'' Victoria sighed a bit.

"No, unfortunately not.''

''But what happened then?'' Victoria asked.

''I ended up in the hospital and there they discovered after an X-ray my vertebra was broken at three points. The doctors forbade me to ever skate again. That was quite a shock to cope with. In the meantime Jackson and everyone else in the world had discovered what'd happened to 'Elizabeth Vintre'. Jack was scared for how people would react if they would find out our national champion wouldn't be able to ever skate again because of him.''

"So what did he do? Did he send roses to you?" Victoria snorted.

"No, he left. He left Chicago and me,'' she spoke bitterly. ''After two years I'd grown over him and when I thought I finally had a peaceful existence the teen years arrived. That was when my innocent and carefree childhood was over.''

"Did you cut yourself as well? Have you ever taken drugs?" Victoria asked softly.

"No, neither of them, but I…I had bulimia when I was about your age. I recovered from the accident and everybody had already forgotten Elizabeth Vintre, you know. I moved on with the grief and pain in my heart. I made sure my natural hair colour grew back, and I became the most normal girl where you can possibly think of, but deep down I had never given up my dream of becoming an international champion.''

''I told my parents I wanted to train again and after a lot of whining I finally got a 'yes' out of them. So I went back to my trainer and told her I wanted to ice skate again."

''She said I had to lose weight. When I heard this, I was so determined to get back on my pairs of skates again that I wanted to lose weight as soon as possible."

"So?"

"So I got bulimia. My parents became worried about me now I had suddenly become so thin in such a short time. Can you believe the whole drama lasted for more than two years? After the one-hundredth time my family suspected me of vomiting my food after dinner, my sister caught me. And ever since it was over with the ice-skating and the fun. It has been quite a rollercoaster ride, my teen years, I mean..''

"And now you live happily ever after..." Victoria sighed bored.

"No, it's not over. The voices, Victoria. I still hear them, really."

"So after your teen years?''

Elsa tried to force a laugh as she spoke. "Oh when I was seventeen I moved with my parents from Chicago to San Francisco. When I was graduated I decided to follow a… police lead-up and when I was twenty-five I got to know a man Dylan who became my boyfriend. I became pregnant of him a year later."

"Whoa a year after you met that guy you became pregnant of him?! And you have a child?! What's his or her name? Does Jack approve?! Why have you never spoken about him or her?! And I thought Michael said you don't have any kids!''

''That's true, I don't have kids.''

''But… How and why? What's happened to your baby?''

A nerving silence and Victoria cast her eyes down.

''Listen Victoria, you know just like me there is no such thing as a 'happily ever after'; where a book ends, life goes on. I fell in love with Dylan, but soon our relationship became worse than I could ever imagine. And then to top it all I became pregnant of him. I silenced it and not even a month after it he broke up with me. I didn't want to raise my child when he or she would have no father, no normal family situation. So in hard situations hard decisions have to be made.''

''You got rid of it,'' Victoria ascertained in shock as she stared at Elsa in the dark, but Elsa could see her features. Elsa was silent, but she knew Victoria got the message.

''I just feel so empty and like a monster after I did the abortion.'' Before she knew it she was crying again, and the tears ran silently down her cheeks.

She looked up when the door opened and her eyes widened when she saw how James, also known under his alias as Pitch Black, walked in with his son at his side. He'd become older; his face had lost its youth and charm. Now it was emaciated and hollow. His jawline was as sharp as a knife, his black hair was even greasier than normally and he wore it in the classic Pitch Black way; combed backwards. He was as always wearing his true favourite colour; black.

"Oliver, help me!" Victoria yelled, while she tried to struggle against the ropes that tied her wrists together. So to see she still had the hope her boyfriend didn't mean this and that this was all a big mistake. Oliver rolled with his eyes while he crossed bored his arms. To Elsa's dismay it almost looked like he seemed to enjoy the sight of a suffering Victoria.

A feeling of intimidation filled her when she felt how James glared ruthlessly down at her with a slightly tilted chin. Elsa's eyes glided over his being in disgust. He had the blood of more than twenty people on his hands with no shame. She was convinced he was nothing more but a cold-hearted sociopath.

Her eyes widened in astonishment when she noticed a tattoo with a recognisable symbol on James' arm, now he had the sleeves of his blouse rolled up till his elbows. The tattoo was the exact same one as Jack's, and that meant they were in the same street group more than ten years ago.

She wanted to know why Jack had never told her about a past with James.

James saw her gaze apparently. A smirk spread across his face, and he lifted the corners of his mouth into a devious and self-complacent smirk that made her feel she wanted to gag. He was nothing more but terrifying and treacherous in her eyes. "I assume Jack told you about the street group he was part of back when he was a teen," James began amusedly.

"Yes, he told me," Elsa hissed back through gritted teeth while she struggled against the ropes that held her in place. She wanted to come closer to him but James already took a step forward. He put his hand under her chin and lifted it. She was scared of the criminal but she didn't have the intention to show it at all. His nails dug in her chin now he only used three fingers to support it.

"But I was there too.'' Elsa's eyes widened. ''You see, Jack and I met because he joined the street group I was already a part of. We had lot of things in common; our family had kicked us both out, we didn't have a fun childhood at all, and we were nobody. Yet those things made it that we felt we understood each other. Within no time we became best friends. Jack and I shared as a child the same aspiration in life; becoming an agent for a secret service.''

''There was this one agency the 'World Human Protection Agency' -also known under the name WHPA- and there were only stories about the mighty company, but we all dreamed to be a part of it.''

''Because of people like Nicholas North, who back then worked for the WHPA and not for the International Security Agency he works for now, we wanted to be a part of this service.'' James and reverence for something or someone? James had respect for North? Nowadays these two were everything but a match, now North was out for the criminal to make an end of twenty-one years of terror.

''We wanted to join the WHPA, but there is no way you can just walk into the building and ask for a lead-up, as you know, because the same rules for the ISA. You need to be at the right place, at the right time," James spoke as his voice lowered into a raspy way.

"Jack was personally invited to become an agent for the WHPA after North had seen from a distance how he dodged the police when he stole something with a friend Eugene,'' Elsa rattled matter-of-factly. James jerked roughly her head to the side and Elsa could just prevent her head from collapsing into the wall.

"Oh yeah he told you about Eugene and him, but _I_ was there too. Jack told you _he_ escaped the police, that _he_ was the hero of the story, but_ I_ was the one who grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to pull him into an alley so the police wouldn't grab him by his short hairs. And even today, more than fifteen years later he is too proud and stubborn to corroborate that if I hadn't been there he would've been thrown into jail. "

Elsa's couldn't believe Jack lied to her and had told her everything but the truth.

"Jack and I escaped the police. When we were safe, we looked up in surprise when suddenly our idol, Nicholas North, stood in front of us. Nobody knew he really existed; he was a legend. He was a man who could give two teenage boys without a home hope and dreams,'' James snickered somehow in certain mock.

''He turned himself to Jack to congratulate him with his acceptance for the WHPA academy. North didn't see _I_ was the one who saved Jack, that _I_ was the one who had to become an agent for his agency, but he chose that dick-head. I begged North to listen to me and allow me to join the WHPA academy as well, but he was cold and said 'no'. And here I was, the job I wanted my whole life was claimed with no pardon in front of my own eyes and I could only watch.'' It looked like James finally had a soul, emotions and Elsa was agitated when she heard the story.

''I had to be the one in Jack's position, I had to be the favourite of North, I had to be the new legend. But now the only thing I can give people are nightmares. Then, after my reject of becoming an agent for the WHPA, I tried to become an agent for the ISA, with my reasons. But I also got rejected for that secret service.''

"If you would've become an agent for the ISA, this case wouldn't even exist."

''Indeed, and if Jack hadn't been such a dick then I would've been the one in his position now and maybe he would be the bad guy today.''

"Jack would never become like you. Never. He would find his heart back, he would find a loving wife who would take his pain away -"

"That was what I thought too. And you know what that bitch did? She left me with a useless son.'' Elsa's eyes darted to Oliver who narrowed his eyes slowly, but he didn't say anything.

"Anyway, years grew over it and in the meantime I had become a criminal while Jack resigned his job at the WHPA to work for the ISA. When I heard Jack Frost was one of the best agents the ISA had ever had I was determined to shoot him one day in my rage, my jealousy so I could finally make an end to the best friend who'd let me down in a way that got beyond my imagination.''

Everybody was silent and listened attentively.

"Sad how we 'villains' are just lost heroes whose story you never hear. No, it are always the heroes who get the attention and the prestigious commendation,'' James ended.

**VICTORIA**

''What do you think, Victoria?'' James began with a devious simper planted on his face. ''Are you a villain or a hero? Or let me at least say a bad or a good person?''

Victoria looked up and their eyes met. She stammered helplessly and cast her eyes down but then spoke. ''I used to be a good person. Now… now I'm lost in my own morals. I don't even know how to save myself,'' she spoke bitterly and she stared down at the ground.

''Then we, my dear, have a lot in common,'' James smiled as he walked forward and lowered to the ground in front of her. His hand began to caress her cheek in an affable way. Victoria closed her eyes and her shoulders began to jolt before she sobbed words about feeling like a failure. She needed a hug, she needed someone. It was as if he could read thoughts. Within seconds his arms wrapped around her and he shushed her while rocking her softly in his arms. His touch was gentle, his grip wasn't firm, if she wanted she could escape, she could free herself out of his hug, but she didn't.

She was too weak.

She sobbed in his chest while he nuzzled in her hair. His hand glided up and down her back, and while his heavy man perfume filled her nostrils. She didn't know he had this side, she didn't know he _could_ show love, or at least affection. Hugging the father of her boyfriend felt so weird, unnatural, somehow in a bad way after she heard all those stories about him, but she didn't want to reject him, especially when he made her realise they were partly the same.

As she cried in his chest and laid her hand on it he whispered in her ear words about a fire, a fire that had been put on for her alone, because he needed a phoenix, he needed a girl with the fire in her eyes and the love in her veins. He whispered words about resurrection, about fate. He whispered words about being not alone and that he was there to help her and that he was there to show his phoenix her purpose in life.

But only if she was willing to give her life for it, when needed.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes. ''Never.''

James' eyes began to glow in dismay before he hissed. ''As you wish,'' and he jerked her out of his arms, against the wall. She gave a yell in pain and the tears began to roll down her cheeks.

She cringed in pain when a horrible headache arose. If she'd only said 'yes' to his offer, then she wouldn't have lied here. ''You think you're smart, huh? You think you can dodge me, well I shall tell you something Victoria Leroux;" James began sadistically as he raised. She crawled up into a ball when a feeling of intimidation hit her. ''You're the most naïve little girl I've ever seen,'' A wicked grin spread across his face.

"Why am I naïve?" Victoria furrowed her eyebrows in incomprehension as well pain.

"You really didn't see I made Oliver and you meet on purpose so he would get what with you? You think it's coincidence Oliver has his hip-hop lessons after your ballet classes? If he didn't hip-hop, I would've found another way for you two to meet, as long as you two would get something. Because yes, Victoria you were of course the daughter of the people who are running the biggest and most powerful bank in New York."

Victoria turned pale as snow.

Elsa protested. "Tell us your plan. Where do you need the money for you stole from Michael -"

He shushed her. ''My dear, we save the best part for last.''

''Oliver had such power over you, Victoria, that you were willing to do everything for him.'' Victoria cast her eyes down in shame, knowing he was right. ''But our sweet little Veronique was stubborn and first didn't want to give the passwords of Michael's bank account so Oliver had to use an other weapon…" James groaned heartedly.

"What did he do, Victoria?" Elsa asked cautiously, and she turned her head.

"He said he would tell all the secrets I held from Michael and Katherine to them. I could do nothing more but obey and steal the codes," Victoria spoke softly, while she averted her gaze in shame.

"Indeed. Oliver would become your boyfriend so he could get so close with

you, and so could manipulate you. Eventually you would give the passwords of Michael to Oliver and after that Oliver would give them to me so I could drain 6,900,000 dollars of his bank account.''

Elsa now realised how perfectly thought-out his plan was and somehow it scared her.

Victoria's eyes widened in shock before tears escaped her eyes, but she kept on staring at James with all the hate she could find for him. "What did I ever do to you so you need to involve me in this?!" she yelled at him in her fury.

James ignored her, maybe one of his best talents and he continued. ''Oh and thank you for playing Oliver's girlfriend for nine months,'' Victoria's gaze moved to her boyfriend and she wailed his name. He didn't face anyone in the room, he stared numbly at the ground and let his father speak. ''but if you're convinced he truly loves you and is here to save you as your Prince Charming then I advise you to stop watching Disney movies and realise that life isn't a fairytale,'' James ended ruthlessly.

Victoria's eyes widened and she begged. "Oliver, I love you, you're the first boy ever where I felt something for, you're the first boy to whom I gave my heart and now you just decide to break it, you just decide to leave me down?!''

Then she added the painful words; ''Where is the polite, charming, and caring guy I met?!" she yelled at him in her despair. Her eyes begged for eye contact, but he'd turned his back to her.

Literally and figuratively.

Oliver gave a glance at his father who nodded softy. Then Oliver parted his lips to speak as he turned around, his hands folded on his back. "But I don't love you. I never did," he groaned coldly back and he roughly turned around to cock ruthlessly in a mocking way an eyebrow at her.

Victoria's eyes widened in aghast when the realisation hit her that he'd done nothing more but use her for over nine months.

"Who loves you, Victoria? No one.'' A conniving simper was spread across his face. ''To make you aware of the fact; call one person who cares about you, call one person who'd say 'if you jump I jump'?, call one person who won't let you rot in the end, who won't leave you to die. Then I wonder whose name you'll mention.'' Oliver's words made her think, they made her insecure, and they made her wonder if maybe he wasn't just nothing more but right.

''And once again the answer is 'no one' , and that is only because no one loves you.''

Victoria crawled up into a ball now she felt scared and intimidated. ''We're over,'' she whispered.

Oliver snickered scornfully before he spoke rather sarcastically; ''no shit Sherlock.''

"I just hoped you were the first to care about me," Victoria spoke softly in perplexity to break the silence that lingered in the air after his words. Oliver ignored her and turned once more his back to her, as a sign he'd had enough of her and her bullshit.

"Victoria's innocence was perfect for the whole plan." James began, to continue to divulge his plan.

"Which whole plan?" Elsa groaned heartedly.

"Oh, you'll be surprised when you hear the truth. This case isn't about that stupid money, it's not about that stupid Victoria Oliver brought here, no, she was only the bait to lure you to this place after she was kidnapped. No, this plan is about the fact that I can finally get rid of North's favourite employees who have blocked my way before."

"I first stole the money from the Federal Reserve Bank so I would get North's attention, the ISA's. I could only guess what he would do, but it couldn't be any better; he sent exactly the two agents I was looking for and those were not just 'agents' no they were the most loved, praised and admired ones. And North was so smart to give the one who would solve the case a promotion -"

"We've always solved the previous cases with you!" Elsa defended herself with valour.

"And that's why I'm still free like a sweet little bird," James scoffed sarcastically while he stared in disinterest at his nails.

''And Elsa, you wanted to hear my full plan, right?'' She nodded in answer. ''Well after I've killed Jack and you, I think my next goal is taking over the ISA. So tell me… Elsa, what are the codes to get into the international headquarter here in New York?''

''You think I'm going to tell you that?!'' Elsa groaned mockingly.

''Oh I see you like to play games. Okay, I'll play the game along…'' James hissed as he was smiling so deviously that it became deterrent. "Oliver." He called his son but he kept on staring at Victoria for some odd reason. Her eyes widened in realisation when she got a gut feeling he had dark plans with her and she began to struggle against the ropes.

"Make short shrift with Victoria," James ended while he kept staring at her. Elsa begged James to don't do it and leave her alone, but he showed no mercy.

Victoria flinched in fear and tried to coil backwards when Oliver approached her. She was scared to death. He smashed her without any warning against the wall to pin her against it. She began to gasp for air in shock when he grabbed the little knife he always wore with him. It had a pentagram on the sword. The oppressing feeling of the cold metal that was set to her throat made her sob and panic. The tears streamed silently down her face while her shoulders jolted.

"Listen my phoenix, if I were you I would keep myself quiet. I don't have the need to clean up your blood after I've slit your throat.''

Oliver's words made her eyes widen in shock. Cries for help escaped her parted lips, and within seconds the pressure on her throat was set to the maximum. She whispered, no she begged him he had to redeem her, and make an end to it, make an end to her, but he didn't.

''Let's throw it on an ultimatum;'' James began amusedly, ''if you, Elsa, don't speak it's bye bye Vicky.''

Victoria felt dizzy and slightly nauseous when she wasn't able to get any air. Her eyes could only move, because if her body would do so, the only thing she would remember would be how the warm crimson blood ran down her neck after Oliver would've slit an artery.

''Tell me Elsa, still want to silence?'' James smirked amusedly. Elsa began to cry and she buried her face in her hands. She didn't speak, she only sobbed.

''I'm so sorry Victoria, but if I betray my company my family will get shot, just like me,'' Elsa sobbed harrowingly.

James hummed before he spoke matter-of-factly. –Just like it was time for a joke- ''True that. Whatever your choice is, Elsa, you'll die in every scenario. If this would be a book then I could only conclude because of the fact you'll always die that the writer would've had more than enough of your unnecessarily appearance and impute into the story,'' he mocked. ''Well I agree with her, because I'm as well sick of you.''

''If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die,'' Elsa whispered boldly. ''The characters they love most are also the ones they torture most.''

''If I were a writer I would kill you and your son off, right now,'' Elsa continued.

''Yes, and that's what the reader wants right now, that's what they wish me and Oliver; death. But does it end there? Is that truly good for a 'bad' character to make it stop from doing bad things? Are you truly convinced death is the solution? I'm convinced torture, the constant miss of loved ones and the feeling of losing everything you have, that that is even worse than death. When you die you feel nothing anymore, when you live, you have to literally live with the pain.''

''Just like I do for already seventeen, now nearly eighteen years,'' James ended.

It was silent after James' vague words.

''And don't forget that when I die, there is no story left to tell. If the writer knows me well enough then she knows my sin is as dark as the Nyx, but that my truth is bright as Eos, she knows I have a purpose and she also knows the difference between 'villain' and 'misunderstood','' James hissed almost protectively over this 'she'.

''She won't kill me off, she won't let me die. Not until you know my story, my real story.''

Victoria felt how James' words echoed in the distance. As the conniving hands of death wrapped itself around her throat, she heard how a voice whispered almost inaudibly; _'stay with me, I beg you.' _She didn't know whose voice it was. She was too weak to recognise it, her body had had enough.

''_Well enough chitchat. Codes of the ISA headquarter in New York? Does that ring a bell?''_ James' words echoed in the distance. Her eyelids lowered and slowly she felt how death lured her to paradise.

But then, Oliver put his knife off her throat. She gasped so restlessly for air that it seemed and felt as if she just came to the surface after diving for a long time underwater. Oliver released her from the ropes before he grabbed her by her arm to pull her over the floor towards a mirror that stood in the corner of the room. As she still gasped for air, she tried everything to loosen herself out of his grip, but he was too strong and kept pulling her over the floor. Her arm hurt and she yelled for him to stop.

Oliver let go of her in one swift second and since Victoria wasn't prepared for this move she pulled herself even harder out of his grip. She fell against the mirror before it broke in thousands of pieces. The sound of shattering glass was everywhere, and she yelled in pain when the thousands of shards cut into her skin. It felt as if they rained over her body. They made their way down her back after they'd fallen behind the collar of her dress, they fell in her cleavage, her hair was covered in it, and her face wasn't spared at all. Scratch after scratch, carving after carving, was made in her body.

Maybe the deathly little shards were even more conniving than the big ones. Her whole body hurt, and never had she known a person could feel so much pain.

Her best friend and enemy, shards and her reflection, were spread all over floor around her.

Oliver grabbed a shard and sat on top of her while struggled against him in all her might. His manhood pressed against her abdomen. She used to go crazy because of the sensational feeling, she used to adore it, his name used to escape her lips in a hoarse moan, and then he would always smash hungrily his lips on her for a long drawn out French kiss.

But this time it was different. She didn't want to feel his manhood, she didn't want to feel his body on hers, she didn't want him to look at her in this dominating way.

She tried to get up, but he smashed her back against the floor, she tried to roll to the left, to the right, but he grabbed her by her shoulders to throw her back in place, she tried to move her knee between his legs, but he pushed one of his legs against hers, she tried to move under him, but she was trapped, she tried to scratch him but he pushed her arms against the floor before holding them firmly against it.

Whatever she tried, it wouldn't work.

He pinned her wrists against the floor and held them with one hand, while he revealed with the other one the shard he'd grabbed. Her eyes widened and she yelled, she cried, she wailed, she screamed, she begged and she sobbed, but he showed no mercy and bended himself over her before he slit the mirror shard against her inner arm.

Her shrill screams in excruciating pain filled the room while the shard kept carving cuts and wounds in her body. It felt as if her skin was ripped off, as if she was slaughtered alive, as if someone cut her soul out of her body. The tears streamed down her cheeks as she noticed how the blood seeped down her arm. She was trapped, she couldn't go anywhere, she couldn't move, she couldn't protest. She had to survive the deathly friction Oliver made with the shards.

But the question was, how?

Intimidation, fear, anger, self-blame, all emotions she could probably think of rushed through her mind.

''Still want to silence?'' James smirked amusedly at Elsa. Victoria screamed her name in desperation. ''What you want,'' he shrugged with a simper. ''Oliver, give her a new story to tell.''

Her eyes shut open when Oliver turned her on her stomach. ''GET OFF ME!'' was all she could yell and scream at him over her shoulder. ''Get off me,'' she repeated whispering in soft sobs. The wooden floor where she lay on was ice-cold, just like the room itself, just like Oliver's heart, and just like his love for her. She closed her eyes firmly in shame when he zipped the zipper of her dress down to expose her back.

His finger circled between both of her shoulder blades, his touches feeling somewhere between how comforting words and wanton kisses could make you love struck. But then he dug for a moment a nail in her skin before a shard followed.

Victoria closed her eyes firmly and another salty tear escaped them. Within seconds her sight turned out to be so blurred that she couldn't see a single thing sharply anymore. ''STOP IT!''

She moved her head over her shoulder to look as far as she could see in Oliver's eyes. His gaze shifted from the area between her shoulder blades to her eyes. A shiver ran down her spine when meeting his amber yellow eyes, which received a golden colour in the darkness of the night.

'_Accept the pain, my phoenix.'_ The sentence seemed to possess her thoughts and it scared her. Oliver's lips hadn't parted and he hadn't spoken a word but still she could hear his voice loud and clear.

Her eyes widened noticeably and she stared in shock over her shoulder at him in trance, their eyes locked to each other. Never had his eye contact been so thorough.

Then he averted his gaze. If he'd been the voice or not, she began to realise maybe the apparent person only wanted to help her. As soon as she accepted the pain, the way Oliver had his hand possessively placed somewhere between her shoulder and shoulder blade, and as soon as she accepted she was dominating so much that it made a bump in her ego, a calming feeling entered her mind.

The physical pain didn't disappear, but the mental did, and she loved it, she wanted to feel it, she wanted to experience it, she wanted to cringe for it, live for it. She bit her under lip hard while the tears made their way down her rosy cheeks.

Oliver's fingertips brushed over her shoulder blades, an ethereal, affable feeling.

Voices entered her mind, flashbacks, it always happened when she cut, when something hurt, when she hurt herself.

_The four year old yelled as hard as she could in her pain and agony, now the flames shrouded her. She coughed and oxygen was sucked out of her lungs by the toxic air. The grim flames were about to kiss her body to turn her into ashes. _

_The words of her father echoed in the girl's head. _

_'Before she can rise, a phoenix must burn' _

She began to cry her eyes out when the mental pain came back. Maybe it hurt even more than the physical. But maybe that was because she was used to that by now. She arched her back to escape the knife, but she immediately regretted it. Oliver shot out with cutting and a white chemical pain rushed through her veins.

Oliver cursed. He worked with a certain precision she recognised too well in the perfectionist. He was cutting a figure, a symbol, or maybe a word in her back.

The pain was unbearable but pleasant at the same time. It felt relieving, freeing. The voices continued in her mind. Over and over again the same word was repeated, like it was a mantra. 'My phoenix'.

A shimmer caught the corner of her eye. She recognised it as a pentagram, and she knew a pentagram was put on the sword Oliver's knife.

More blood ran unremorsefully down her back, and more blood covered Oliver's hands, but he kept doing what he did, with the same determined shimmer that was sparkling in his eyes.

Her sight began to not only blur out of tears but also out of weakness and slowly her eyelids lowered. The voices began to echo, and it felt as if it wasn't her body he was cutting in, but in that of someone else.

Finally, he stopped cutting and he threw the bloodied knife to the side, so it lay on the floor. She closed her eyes and kept gasping for air. He zipped the zipper of her dress up again and he consecutively turned her on her back. Her lower body still lay on the floor, but his arms that supported her back held her torso up.

Her eyes slowly opened and their eyes met. His wore a shimmer she couldn't place.

Then everything turned black.

**ELSA**

Elsa's eyes widened when she noticed Victoria passed out. Her head hung backwards while Oliver held her lifeless body in his arms. Her long auburn hair was spread out over the floor, her fingertips touched the floor and her eyes were peacefully closed. Her pale complexion bore a pearly glow. It made her think of the moon.

"Victoria?" Elsa whispered in aghast. More tears were conceived out of her grief.

''Pay for fact you didn't want to speak, Elsa,'' James groaned. ''And good for you, now the child has another scar,'' he ended mockingly.

''Do you mean a mental or physical one?'' Elsa groaned back.

''Both,'' James smirked.

Oliver grabbed Victoria wrist and listened to her pulsation. He stared at his father with an intense gaze before he observed her in scrutiny. He cocked perversely an eyebrow at her before he bended to hiss in her ear. "If you are playing dead with those acting skills of you, you regret the day you know me, Veronique."

But she still didn't show any sign of life.

Without a warning he laid her on the floor and raised. He walked into the shadows of the room. Only his glowing eyes, which had a golden colour, were to be seen.

James approached the lifeless Victoria, knelt, put his hand under her chin and lifted it a bit. The dim moonlight fell on her face. Then his hand trailed down to fiercely cup her cheek. He cocked her head a bit to the side to expose her neck as he stared attentively at her.

Elsa wanted to hiss he had to back off from Victoria, but she knew it would be useless.

James stared once more at Victoria, before he grabbed her with no warning by her long hair and jerked her roughly up so her ear was on eye height with him. She didn't show any sign of life.

She was too weak.

''I'd say sweet dreams,'' James whispered in her ear.

''But there aren't any left.''

* * *

**WHPA= World Human Protection Agency. This is the rival agency of the ISA. Nicholas North used to be one of the CEOs, but then he resigned from his job to work for the ISA.**

**ISA= International Security Agency. Elsa and Jack work for this secret service and Hans used to work for it. Nicholas North is the CEO of the ISA in LA. The upper boss is Laurence Lefèvre, an OC. Find information about her in chapter I!**

**Please leave a review and tell me what you think about James' background story and the violence in this chapter. I know about the flow of the sentences and the grammar mistakes ****. I'm working on it… Next chapter will be sexually themed ****. Stay with me please, we're very close to the climax of the story… Also, this story is online for a year now. Thank you for your support! **

**Big love, Irene. **


	31. Chapter XXVI Delirium

**Hey everyone! I've loved all of your reviews, I love you all so much, silent reader or not.**

**I got a review about the ages and names of characters that suddenly change in some chapters. I'm SORRY. I'm fixing it currently. Just keep in mind that Victoria is sixteen and Oliver seventeen. -I only changed the ages of those two-. **

**!WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING!**

**This chapter is sexually themed. Keep reading please, even when it'll get a tensed atmosphere… I won't spoil anything but tides will turn when reaching a climax, so just trust me. **

**AND THERE'S AN ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. **

**The chapter continues where the previous one ended. **

**CHAPTER XXVI: Delirium**

** ELSA**

"Of all methods you can possibly choose to kill Jack and me you arrange this super complicated plan, just to shoot us, just so you can get rid of people you can't stand. I wonder why you didn't just stalk us, why you didn't just invade my or Jack's house, and why you aren't just a true man and shoot me in daylight," Elsa groaned through gritted teeth with narrowed eyes and a scowl.

"Why?'' James snickered scornfully, ''simple; now I can get rid of two people I want to have out of my way and I get 6,900,000 million dollars. Lucky me.'' His Welsh accent predominated his voice. It had this natural, husky hoarseness which had a raspy edge, and in combination with his British accent he could make the nightingales stop singing their lullaby, he could make a forest silent, he could make a deer tremble as if it looked into the hole of a shotgun. Even when the resentment was rushing through her veins she was locked to all what he said.

"I'd like to know when you're planning on shooting me,'' Elsa spoke rather soberly.

"Wait to be surprised, my love.'' James' grin was so wicked and vile that she noticed how a shiver in abomination ran down her back. Oliver chuckled softly, but Elsa glared at him when their eyes met for a slight moment. Oliver shot a cold gaze at her in answer.

She wanted to part her lips to spat at James she wasn't 'his love', but movement caught the corner of her eye and she turned her head, just like James and Oliver. Victoria inhaled sharply, her chest rising and lowering with every weak breath, while she moved with furrowed eyebrows slightly her head. Then, her eyes fluttered open and she stared numbly at the ceiling. Elsa smiled softly. She'd risen from the ashes.

And she always will.

"Pitch,'' Victoria whispered with a hoarse voice. She kept staring exasperated at the ceiling with a frozen gaze while she still lay on the ground. ''I want to know what will happen with me after you've shot Elsa and Jack. Will you kill me?'' It sounded as if her voice was in possession of a little girl, not of that of a strong teen with the fire in her eyes and the hope in her veins.

All that gone.

James was clearly contemplating what his answer would be. His index finger was rested on his lips as the rest of his hand was folded under his chin. Oliver stood a small metre behind his father, safely in the shadow of the room, while he stared at his ex girlfriend with an observing gaze Elsa couldn't place.

''Well please do so. Please redeem me," Victoria begged wistfully in despondency. A salty tear escaped the corner of her eye to roll helplessly down her cheek, onto the ground. Oliver stared in his silence at the girl, his eyebrow cocked upwards.

"Aw, princess is desperate," James awed in feigned apathy. "Well my phoenix, it would be a true honour if I may help you in this way, but unfortunately I'm afraid there is one tiny little problem," James sang inauspiciously in a lilt.

"Tell me," Victoria demanded and she raised this slightly to support herself on her elbows.

''You have an important role in this situation and because of that I can't let you die," James sighed compassionately, mixed with a low groan.

"Can someone explain to me why everybody's so vague?!'' Victoria exclaimed in incomprehension. ''Elsa if I have to believe you, you're with that husband of you in service as the personal detectives of my foster parents, so I don't see any reason why you have problems with this ruthless criminal," Victoria commented wisely.

''I don't have any problems with James –''

''Then I don't understand why he _does_ have them with you. For me this feels like one big joke. I run away from my foster parents so I can make an end to my fucking life. Hans runs after me to get me back but I escape him and run into an alley where my boyfriend finds me later when I'm all alone. He scoops me up without a word to bring me to God-knows-where and whenever I make a wrong move he beats me, so in the end I lie lifelessly in his arms. Consecutively he throws me into an unknown before I just pass out. When I wake up my hands are bonded with ropes and I lie on the floor, all alone in a dark room and then add more weirdness into this shit I discover to my shock the financial advisor of my foster dad practically kidnapped me with my now ex boyfriend, is that weird or is that weird?!''

Before she could answer 'yes, that's weird', Victoria continued in her rage; ''and now the father of my ex holds me here as 'bait', so you would try to find me. Well you were dumb enough to go after me because now you've fallen into his pitfall. Don't you see you're erupting a chain reaction, Elsa?! I'm gone, you search for me. Then you end up missing as well and now Jack will be searching too to find us back and before we know it he'll end up just like we two; bonded to the floor to wait till death will make an end to it.''

It was silent after her words and James seemed quite impressed when noticing she wasn't as stupid as he thought she would be.

"All I want is to go home," she begged with the tears in her eyes.

"What's home for you?" James snickered resolutely, and he took a step forward. "Going back to that _loving family_ you used to live with?" he chuckled in mock with a cocky grin.

Victoria cast almost confoundedly her eyes down and she bit her under lip. Then she faced the criminal with all the valour she knew. "No. Home is where my family is, and my dad promised me he would come and be a father again, he promised me I'll be happy again!''

''Oh yes, of course daddy's promise!'' James chuckled scornfully. Then he added in dauntless sarcasm a painful diss; ''and that's exactly why he showed up at the premiere of that musical of you.''

Oliver whispered heartedly 'savage'. Elsa shot a glare at him.

''He says everything will be alright again in the letter I got from him.'' It was clear she was trying helplessly to defend herself.

"You're such a silly, stupid, naïve little girl you still don't see it, Veronique," James sighed, almost in a tone of annoyance.

"What do I don't see?''

"You truly think your father wrote that letter?!" James laughed mockingly and it looked like Victoria finally understood everything, now her eyes widened in realisation and the tears emerged in her eyes. James clarified; "It was _me_ who wrote it.''

''B-but why?'' A tear ran down her cheek.

''Why? Simple; I did it just so you would keep believing in a happily ever after, just so you would still have dreams instead of nightmares, just so you wouldn't make an end to your life because I knew you were standing on the edge of death.''

''Oliver's told you everything about my suicidal thoughts hasn't he?'' she hissed. James' wicked grin in answer said enough.

James continued; ''He's told me everything. Trust me my love, I know more of you than you want me to know.'' His words sounded dark and she shivered.

''And oh dear, I would absolutely love it to make you my adoption daughter, really, but I have better things to do than playing daddy," he snickered with a shrug of his shoulders.

She scoffed. "Huh, I never want to be a sister of that dick you call your son, which you conceived with some whore." Oliver flashed an indignant glare at Victoria in response.

"Well 'that dick' has more brains than you and the wall you lie next to added together.'' James lowered to the floor and his voice raised in such a menacing way that Victoria cowered in fear as she swallowed nervously.

James cocked ruthlessly his eyebrow at her. As he spoke to his son in Welsh, he kept staring at her for some odd reason. ''Ddilyn y cynllun. Eich bod yn gwybod beth mae'n rhaid i chi ei wneud.''

Oliver gave a quick nod before he turned himself to Victoria while lowering to the floor. ''Leave me alone,'' she spoke in valour, but his amber coloured eyes were piercing so relentlessly in her eyes that she could only cast them down. She tried to free herself out of the ropes that held her, but he pinned her against the wall to keep her sit still.

His hands glided down her shoulders to slowly grab with his lithe fingers the straps of her bra before pulling them down, off her shoulder. All the time he never broke his incisive eye contact with her. Victoria hissed once more he had to keep his hands off her, but it sounded everything but determined.

As she was tightly pushed against the wall he hissed in her ear; "I'm so done with you, you don't even know," before he grabbed her wrists, revealed again his little knife out of his pocket and cut the ropes through. He scooped her in his arms. Within seconds Victoria's clamour in resistance echoed against the walls.

He brought her to God-knows-where and she was scared to death Oliver would harm her even more.

**VICTORIA**

Oliver held her roughly under his might, while the tears streamed helplessly down her cheeks. He walked with her in his arms down the small corridor where -if you would turn right- the front door was at the end of the long hallway.

She closed firmly her eyes in fear when they entered his room. He threw her on his bed.

She sat down at the edge of it, as her trembling hands quickly grabbed the edges. With drooping shoulders she stared numbly at the ground.

The shock that filled her mind made her unable to move. Luckily he couldn't see her expression, which was filled with agony, now her long tresses fell sideways of her face. Her eyes filled with tears in panic and despondency, but she blinked them boldly away. She was convinced he didn't deserve her tears.

He only deserved to burn in the hellfire that was to be found in the phoenix' eyes.

"Take these," Oliver demanded. She looked up when a hand with two XTC pills moved under her face. She wanted to know why he wanted her to get under the trance of death. With trembling hands she obeyed and took them even when she didn't want it, but she knew Oliver did it for her own good.

As he walked to the door of his room he spoke over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a few hours. If I were you I would sleep some." The door closed before he locked it and she was left all alone.

Her eyebrows furrowed in incomprehension. He was done with her, he wanted to make short shrift with her, but he gave her pills that would make her Queen of the Clouds?

She stared numbly around before she realised she could have a bed to sleep on after roughly four days already. As soon as Oliver's pillow came in contact with her head, she dozed off.

She knew she would wake up in a different world.

One without mercy, love and grief.

**Not on drugs- Tove Lo**

_Shiny, happy, see my world in new colours?_

_Higher fire, fly my rocket through universe?_

The sixteen-year-old inhaled sharply when she felt a hand was put on her bare shoulder. When the girl's eyes fluttered open to reveal a colour green that was brighter than spring, she stared in the amber pigmented eyes of her ex. Oliver sat on the edge of his bed where she slept on. A heavy Axe perfume filled her nostrils when her nose came in contact with his pillow. The scent was an amalgamation of exhilarating wantonness and ethereal temptation where every girl would faint for.

_I'm up with the kites in a dream so blue_

_I live in the sky, you come live here too_

Just like she, but that was before he'd put his Prince Charming mask off, before his layers of lies had been peeled off, to reveal an evil, opportunistic person who was nothing more but a deterrent sociopath in the girl's eyes.

_I'm Queen of the Clouds, make my wish come true_

_I sing to the night, let me sing to you_

She remembered years ago someone told her she should take caution when it comes to love.

She did, until he came on her path. She'd given him her heart, but her heartless boyfriend had broken it, had used it for his own good.

_Baby, listen please_

_I'm not on drugs, I'm not on drugs,_

_I'm just in love_

In her eyes he was dangerous, malevolent and an excellent manipulator who gave her what she wanted; love, attention and rules. That was all she wanted, all she yearned for in her miserable sixteen years of existence.

_Baby, don't you see?_

_I'm not on drugs, I'm not on drugs,_

_I'm just in love_

If she'd learned something after nine months of having a relationship with this guy than it was for sure that the last thing you should try was trying to contradict either fight against him and his commands.

_You're high enough for me_

_Lighter, brighter, pick the biggest stars I find_

_And I'm trip, trip, tripping in my empire state of mine_

She'd been so naive to think her Prince Charming was there to take away her pain, worries and fears. No, all this certain 'boyfriend' did, was giving them instead of taking them away.

_I'm up with the kites in a dream so blue_

_I live in the sky, you come live here too_

_I'm Queen of the Clouds, make my wish come true_

_I sing to the night, let me sing to you_

If she would tell her biological father about Oliver and all what he did to her, how he manipulated her, how he used her, how he treated her, then the man wouldn't complain with her, no on the contrary. Her Super Dad would say noting more but _'there are seven billion people on this world and there are fourteen billion faces'._

End conversation.

_Baby, listen please_

_I'm not on drugs, I'm not on drugs,_

_I'm just in love_

Oliver's piercing gaze brought her back to present. It seemed as if a beam of sunlight had conveyed its colour his iris to create the golden pigment in his amber eyes she could stare for hours at. She blinked when she noticed a slight tunnel vision dominated her sight. They made the edges of life vague, in a dream-like way. She knew he'd given her more XTC than she was used to. The dose was higher, tougher, deathlier.

_Baby, don't you see?_

_I'm not on drugs, I'm not on drugs,_

_I'm just in love_

_You're high enough for me_

The girl observed with slightly raised eyebrows her ex boyfriend. She studied his stunning features, from his messy raven black hair to the adorable dimple in his cheek when he smiled. She studied his pale complexion, which bore just like hers a niveous glow to the black leather jacket he wore. She had a certain love for the colour of the Nyx.

_(…)_

The apprehensive girl studied his aura, his energy, his gaze, body language. It was as always as unwritten as an empty note block you use to write down your inspiration in.

Slowly, she got out of her sleeping state; she felt alive, high and happy.

The XTC ran through her veins like it was a highway of ecstasy that would lead to a long-lasting intoxication of delirium and delusion.

_You're high enough for me._

She wasn't mad with him; she didn't feel the anger burning inside her like the fire in her eyes did. She couldn't remember what happened the past days, what he'd done to her.

And in some way her unconscious was happy she didn't know.

_Baby, listen please_

_I'm not on drugs, I'm not on drugs,_

_I'm just in love_

_Baby, don't you see?_

_I'm not on drugs, I'm not on drugs,_

_I'm just in love_

Actually life was really good; she wondered why to be sad to have no parents, when you actually had more freedom than any other peer you know.

His voice was like it was carried away in the distance, as the echo brushed up against the walls. '_Victoria_.'

The phoenix stared love struck and lip locked at him, life passing her, and the high girl only had eyes for the creature that had given her more pain than any other person in the world but she was convinced he'd all done it for her own good. Oliver was the good himself.

_You're high enough for me_

_You're high enough for me_

_You're high enough for me_

The corners of her lips curled into a gracious smile when she heard his voice. She sighed softly while she stared in ardour at him before she pressed her lips on his to silence their eye contact. She felt happy and relieved he could redeem her.

His lips on hers made her feel weak in the knees, euphoric.

He was euphoric.

**Talking body-WDL remix**

He cupped fiercely her cheek, while their jaws moved in sync, as their tongues sensually glided over each other. Oliver deepened the kiss. She loved the way he kissed her, she loved the way he deduced her, she loved the way he played with her, made her feel innocent even when she was just a little devil. She was craving for physical contact. She wanted to feel his hands, his body, his tongue everywhere and nowhere all over her body, right here, right now.

_(0:12)_

When they broke apart he stared deeply in her eyes with a thorough gaze. She was locked to it, and she couldn't manage to avert her eyes. She was willing to do everything for him, willing to obey to him till eternity.

_(0:15)_

Apparently, her common sense was immune for the deathly euphoria that was running through her veins. The voice told her he was about to make her do things she normally wouldn't even dare to think about. She freaked out with already just the thought of him touching her naked body, while his intrepid hands would be everywhere and nowhere.

_(0:25)_

Before she could think and become conscious of the situation, the redhead was overpowered by curiosity and the ethereal yet deathly intoxication where she was put into.

_(0:32)_

He whispered. "Do what I say and nothing will happen to you. Don't, and this is not going to be a fun experience.'' Their noses touched, they shared the same breath, and his messy hair touched her forehead, so close was he.

_(0:40)_

He still had her cheeks cupped with his hands, while his thumb grazed over her rosy cheeks. She felt how gentle his touch was. She didn't want him to let go of her.

She closed her eyes and bit in temptation her lip.

_(0:50)_

She wanted to know if if he was using as well.

As her forehead touched his, she nodded softly under her trance of feeling high. His tongue grazed consecutively over her narrow lower lip, before his lips softly pressed softly upon hers. She nearly fainted in his arms out of love, now a dart of Cupid had hit her heart again and once more she opened it up for the best mistake she'd ever made; Oliver.

_(1:05)_

The redhead put her hands on his shoulders while she was locked in his arms. She pulled his black leather jacket off before she pressed her hands on his chest.

His hands slid to her arms, down her under arm, which was full of cuts, past her scarred wrists before he took her hands in his. "Repeat me, Victoria. I love you, Oliver." Never had his gaze been so thorough and intense.

(1:20)

The girl laid her eyes on the boy and the redhead stared love struck at him, knowing he came back to her, back in her life and that he was there to help her. "I love you Oliver," she whispered, obeying under his command. She had this desire for him and she was so right down high that the euphoric feeling that filled her could have the lifetime of the end of time.

_(1:28)_

Their lips found destiny again. He ran through her hair and a shiver ran down her back, but it was pleasant. Oliver made every moment count, now his lips kissed hers in a slow, caring, but exhilarating way. "You're cosseting me," she whispered between their kisses.

"I want my princess to feel good," he whispered, and when they broke apart, the left corner of his lips curled into a charming smile.

_(1:45)_

"Princess huh? How about queen?" She grinned slyly and she moved closer to him, before fumbling with his shirt. Oliver's hands were snaking past her back to reach for the zipper of her prom dress. Victoria pushed him off her while smirking confidently. Oliver raised an eyebrow at her. She grinned wickedly while she pulled the zipper down herself.

(1:52)

"Stupid boy,'' she giggled rambunctiously. Normally she would never dare to speak such words.

She bended to kiss him again and soon their jaws moved in sync. She tried to keep up with the rough pace their passionate kiss was going.

(2:00)

''You're so high, my phoenix,'' Oliver giggled. He was right; she could slowly call herself Queen of the Clouds.

''Baby don't you see I'm not on drugs; I'm just in love,'' the redhead giggled high back while she wrapped her arms around Oliver's neck, before his nose nuzzled in his neck. She moved closer to him and before she knew it he grabbed her, his hands supporting her buttocks, and he placed her on his lap. The second after the two continued their moment that was as mellifluous as ambrosia and as smarmy as dawn.

_(2:15)_

The seventeen-year-old pulled the dress she was wearing over her head to leave her in her undergarments. The redhead grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt before pulling him practically on top of her. The girl could feel the weight of her almost two-year-older ex pressing on her. The young adult almost couldn't shift under her him and a trapped feeling entered her.

(2:25)

She began to giggle and she couldn't stop. "My phoenix, I have no time for schoolgirl giggles." Oliver had bended himself to her ear and had whispered it tantalising, but yet ominously in her ear. His lips brushed over her cheek, down to her neck and as soon as his nose touched and grazed over her weak spots, the shivers ran down her spine like rain. She stared numbly in amazement at the ceiling when he began to make love bites on the collarbone.

_(2:38)_

She threw his shirt over his head before he pressed his lips once more on hers. She felt how everything intensified. Colours, life, the moment, her senses. It was maddening but somehow she loved it.

She was falling in love for him again. For his well-formed face, his good smell, his intelligence, his handsome looks, his messy black hair, his bad boy attitude, and his enigmatic personality.

_(2:48)_

The two were locked in each other's arms while the seventeen-year-old lay on top of the sixteen-year-old. Their bodies moved over each other and both of them felt a thrilling electric sensation that was crackling between them like colourful fireworks.

_(2:58)_

She kept on shivering under his touches and the girl could apparently only tremble under her ecstasy. Their tongues glided over each other like an unexplained dance while her hands were lost in his hair. Back when they were in a relation, she always did it when he kissed her. It was their thing and she tried to get it back, the moments back, the feelings, but most of all the love.

_(3:10)_

''You're beautiful,'' he whispered in a raspy groan, while his nose trailed down her neck, lower, lower to her chest area and she kept on shivering and trembling. His lips made its way over her breasts. Never had she felt so embarrassed and loved at the same time. It had two sides, the situation had two sides and most of all; Oliver had two sides.

She loved this one.

Now she finally understood why Lizzy was so into him.

_(3:22) _

It was a total new thing for her, the kissing, the making out, the feeling each other and it was different than the phoenix had thought it would be. At the moment she wouldn't mind taking her clothes off for this him.

Her climax of euphoria as over, colours faded, and her slight tunnel vision plus carefree thoughts vanished into air.

Just like her trust and confidence.

It just dropped with no reason.

_(3:16)_

Then out of nowhereawareness hit her; parents gone, mother dead, dad left her, house on fire, shooting, scars dominating body and mind, bipolarity, orphanage, ex boyfriend is a dick, foster parents who neglect her, no certain future now Pitch Black, a ruthless criminal, had kidnapped her and now his son was ready to take her virginity.

Now that escalated quickly.

_(end)_

Her sense of hearing came back, her sight got better and she finally understood what was going on. The aftermath was bigger than ever before and it felt destroying. Her eyes narrowed in incomprehension when she didn't understand what she was doing on top of Oliver in her undergarments in one bed. Then her eyes widened in shock when she noticed what was about to happen.

Her breathing got heavier, more ragged and she began to panic when she realised his hands were all over her body, his lips were everywhere, and his words weren't the words she wanted to hear from him.

Life was running back in her veins, and she began to get conscious of the entire situation.

She felt alive.

How the euphoric XTC could give her wings and make her love struck with Oliver, how reality could take her crown which resembled her title 'Queen of the Clouds', to then push her off her castle on a cloud. She would fall and make her way down to earth surface where she used to belong.

The defenceless phoenix without her wings would fall crying and yelling out of the sky to collapse hard on the ground. On moments like these you would wake up out of your nightmare and realise the painful difference between golden lies and empty truth.

"You're crushing me," she wailed. Then she added through gritted teeth, ''get off me,'' while trying to move under him. She tried to push his head away from her chest area where he busy with her, but it was hard. A panic wave attacked her when she realised she was trapped. The anger rose in her temper.

The one with whom she was pissed and dared to touch her was the last one who was allowed to see her in her bra, let alone be practically with his nose between her breasts.

She moved up to raise from his bed, but he laid in a reflex his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back onto the mattress. He eyes darkened in a grim way. "I don't care.'' He jerked her forward. She flinched in fear when hearing the coldness in his voice. She wailed she wanted the old Oliver back, the sweet one who made her feel good and confident, but he ignored her.

"You want to fight against me?'' She shook her head in answer while she shut her eyes firmly. She tried to whisper a 'sorry' for her switch in behaviour, but he vexed her speaking; ''Well apparently you do.''

Oliver hands snaked to her back, while he held her up so he could unclip her bra. She protested and struggled against him. He knew she was insecure about her svelte body, which was full with cuts and scars, he knew it and it hurt her he didn't reckon with her.

Why would he?

Oliver moved his hand to the back of the girl to pull her bra away, while she tried everything to escape him, but it was useless. Her begs and wails echoed against the walls. "Make no sound," Oliver hissed in her ear. A tear ran down her cheek while she wailed Elsa, Hans, Pitch, someone's, name, hoping at least a living soul would hear her call for help.

She was scared for everything that was about to come. She wanted to be a girl again, innocent, and safe with her parents. She didn't want to be in the big, evil world.

She thought she knew everything about sex, but now the moment was here to come, she felt like a blushing virgin. She suddenly had the idea she had no knowledge of it at all. School always told the same at sex aid: 'do things safe'. But they never told how it was. They only told facts. Stupid facts she couldn't use in the end even if she would want to so badly for God's sake.

She had to trust Oliver that he knew what he was doing.

But she asked herself where on earth the trust was to be found in this situation.

She tried to cover herself, but he made sure she got no chance. "Oliver, I don't feel comfortable. I want you to stop," Victoria groaned in the calmest tone she knew. Their eyes met for an intense moment. He stopped with what he was doing and observed her. Then, he spoke mockingly.

"Calm down; it's not the first time that I see a girl exposed, for God's sake." He called her a girl. Girls were naive, immature and cute. She was a woman. Women were strong, intelligent and independent.

She didn't want to know all what happened next so she decided to close her eyes. She didn't want to see what he did to her, how his member looked, how she looked, how they looked. She just wished she could shut in addition to sight, also emotions down because she felt a headache arising out of all the overload of violence.

She closed her eyes in shame when she actually moaned and shivered under his actions but deep down, she also hoped this would all be gone soon. She had no idea what on earth he did with her, but it felt good even when she was in resistance. She was in a love-hate situation with herself.

After a while when both were ready, the moment came where she was the most scared for. This was why she hadn't wanted to go further than kissing with him. Because she was scared for the pain and embarrassed for if he would see her exposed body. "Spread your legs," he demanded while he looked incisively at her. It wasn't a question, it was a command.

Victoria sobbed while she closed her eyes again and she held her legs firmly closed, but Oliver was stronger and pulled them roughly apart. The next thing she could only think of was the pain when he pushed his member through her maidenhead. It was unbearable, the pain was excruciating. Victoria screamed in pain, and she couldn't stop crying. "You are hurting me! Stop it Oliver! It hurts!" she cried, but it was clear her supplication was useless, because the next second later Victoria cried in pain once more when he again slid into her.

The feeling of penetration was weird, unnatural, and everything but how she would expect how it would feel.

"I love you, Oliver, I still love you!" Victoria yelled quickly in pain. She hoped this was enough to make him stop, or make him slow down, make this sociopath aware about a thing called feelings, pain, compassion and emotions. She opened her eyes to look at him, but he had his eyes closed. It looked as if he almost didn't want or dare to look at her.

Her shoulders jolted, while Oliver just resumed with what he was doing and she had no idea what to do now, move or not, lay still, whatever.

Why did she never ever even bothered to ask experienced Lizzy advice?!

"But I don't love you," he hissed while he thrusted again into her. She inhaled sharply, her eyelids closed and another salty tear escaped her eye. She tried to make no sound, scared for what his reaction would be if she would scream once more.

She was trying everything to keep Oliver out of her, by tightening everything in her body. Victoria tried to close her legs, but Oliver was between them. She felt so dominated that she just _felt_ how it made a bump into her ego. He'd taken her crown, which resembled her dignity, and he'd done it so effortlessly and quickly that it looked as if he'd snapped with his fingers in front of her face to make her get back to present.

She wailed she was too tensed to do anything. He answered cockily. "Work with me Victoria. Sooner you relax, sooner it's done."

Well he was right…

"Fuck you Oliver! Use protection," Victoria hissed angrily and her eyes spit fire. ''If I'm done with you…'' she menaced. Oliver cocked coldly an eyebrow at her in a way she couldn't place, while he thrusted again controlled into her. Victoria tried to follow his _helpful_ 'advice' with rolling eyes, but it wouldn't work.

''Ravi, please,'' she begged. Oliver looked up and within seconds he slowed down to then do what she asked him to do so she could catch her breath and not think of the pain. She sighed trembling. His body warmth kept her warm, but his body language was close to frozen cold.

"Calm down, or this is not working." Oliver almost whispered. ''Trust me, I tell you to relax for your own good.''

Victoria's shoulders jolted and she began to sob. "I-I can't. I just can't." He didn't answer her; he waited for a minute and let her rampage and cry. Victoria was nothing more but scared. She sobbed her eyes out till there were no tears left.

It had become too much for her, the past days, the past months, the past years. Eyes were closed, hoping to not see reality, to forget it. Her body jolted and her tear ducts could only conceive tears. ''Shoot me, shoot me and I'll be gone, I don't even care anymore,'' she begged him.

''It's too late for that,'' she added bitterly before she continued to cry her eyes out.

She heard he softly sighed. Victoria flinched when she felt how he touched her, but it wasn't hard or viciously, it was softly and gently. He shushed softly. ''It's alright, you're safe with me.'' And with these whispered words he sealed her lips with a long, tender kiss. Shivers ran down her spine when he touched her affably and cautiously. ''You're safe with me,'' he repeated in soft hoarse whispers before their lips found each other again.

Her eyes shut open and she stared in his eyes in shock. When their eyes met she saw the boy she used to fall in love with. He shushed her once more with a soft smile. Her genitalia hurt so much that she almost felt unable to move.

His nose trailed down her neck, down and he kissed her chest area. He kissed her everywhere and nowhere, as if he wanted to kiss her pain away. She ran through his hair for a moment, but when he wanted to continue by almost entering her, she began to panic and sob again.

''Stop crying,'' he demanded authoritatively and he looked up. And then he added softly. ''I don't deserve your tears.''

She was silent and closed her eyes for a moment to just feel, not hear, not see. She felt his body on hers, she felt how his body kept hers warm, she felt how his lips kissed affably her neck, and she felt his member inside of her. When she opened her eyes she dared for the first time to look at his body. She now saw he still wore the necklace he always wore. On this kind of black string hung a golden pentagram engraved with the name '_Ravi'_. She now saw it rested on her chest.

She grabbed the pentagram, took it in her hands and Oliver looked up. ''What is this?'' She observed it before their eyes met. He shushed her.

She fumbled with the golden symbol and she noticed in the corner of her eye Oliver looked attentively at her. As she held his necklace in her hands, he ran a hand through her hair. ''Ravi,'' she whispered. He looked up and the corner of his lips curled into a beautiful smile that could be in possession of a happy six-year-old boy.

After a few minutes she had calmed down. She exhaled heavily while closing her eyes.

"I can feel you relax now," he snickered before he carefully pulled the pentagram out of her hands to let it rest on her chest again. The two laid their eyes on each other and it was silent. She felt a rage of butterflies in her stomach. She loved him again, she felt this burning feeling in her.

''One day you will understand why I did this to you, Victoria. I beg you; please forgive me then,'' he whispered softly while he ran cosseting through her hair.

''Why would I?'' she whispered back and she laid her arms in his neck.

''My sin is as dark as the Nyx, but my truth is bright as Eos.''

His words echoed disturbingly long in her head.

''If you do this because your father tells you to do so, if you do this because your father tells you it's normal to take girls as a sexual being, then please Oliver, I beg you stop with this, lie to your father about what you did what he asked you to do so and leave me alone!'' she whispered trembling.

''It's too late for that,'' he whispered back with the fear in his eyes. ''You should know what happens to me, both of us, when my father discovers I lied to him about this. Believe me, you will regret the day you know him,'' Oliver whispered softly back before he pressed his lips firmly on hers and he entered her once more. She was silent. She didn't dare to ask where he had been through whole his life with his abusive sociopath father.

She tried to move with him and he was quite nice to her for his egocentric being. She tried to enjoy it, but it was hard since she felt how her whole body hurt and most of all her lower zone. ''You okay?'' he asked, his eyes filled with worry.

They were for one second locked to each other's eyes before Victoria averted hers from him. It was too thrilling, too much intensity. She nodded softly with her eyes cast down. Their hips met in a rhythmic pace, as they met each other with every thrust of Oliver. ''My genitalia hurts so much,'' she confessed softly.

''You want me to stop for a moment?'' His warm smile made her feel weak in the knees.

She nodded in silence and Oliver did what he was asked to once more. His fingertips brushed over her nipples for a second and she instantly shut her eyes in bliss. ''Please, yes,'' she moaned softly. Somehow she didn't feel scared, neither ashamed anymore. Slowly, he entered her once more while doing what she asked him to. Within a minute turned the pace up and the sweat arose on his forehead while he shut his eyes before he sharply inhaled in pleasure. When he opened his eyes he grinned. ''Sorry, just me making weird faces because you're feeling good.''

She couldn't help but snicker just like him.

" 'Cause you're like really tight, actually,'' he ended.

"What does that even mean?!" She rolled her eyes.

"In general it means a girl is feeling good for a man's body,'' he explained with a shrug.

"Am I literally 'tight'? But can't I squeeze your dick off then?" Her eyes furrowed in revolt.

''You devil,'' Oliver laughed and Victoria giggled with him. Then he instantly stopped laughing and groaned under his breath; "this is a boner killer."

"Meh I don't mind." She shrugged her shoulders with a wicked grin.

"I noticed,'' he spoke monotonously. "But no, tight is more like an expression I guess. You can't explain it, I mean you just 'feel' if a girl is tight or not -"

"Cool. Now I still don't know what it is," Victoria spoke mockingly.

Oliver sighed. "It's just said that when a girl loses her virginity she is 'tight'. I have no other explanation for it. You have for example men who only prefer virgins just because its said they're tight, but that just a stupid myth."

"Why?" She felt almost naïve.

"Why?'' Oliver chuckled scornfully. ''You can fuck a girl as much as you want, but that whole 'tightness' won't go away even if you'd want it so badly.''

"You know a lot of the birds and bees for a guy who isn't a lot to be found in biology classes, because Mr. Black always playing truant," she simpered amusedly.

"Forget that stupid theory shit, give me practise." His wink made her blush.

Suddenly, she felt something. It was pleasant and not painful. He hit her in the right way inside of her. Her eyes shut open and soft moans escaped her lips. Their lips found destiny soon, their hips moved in rhythm and she finally dared to look and wanted to look into his eyes when he made his way into her.

Before she knew it he released himself into her with a low grunt, before he collapsed on top of her to then lay his head on her chest. She stared numbly at the ceiling, while her hand rested on his scalp. From time to time her hand played with his hair.

He slid out of her and an attack of coldness shrouded her when his body wasn't to be found on hers anymore.

She closed her eyes in fatigue. She was too tired to cover herself when he was changing himself. Let him look, let him stare, he'd already seen every part of her body already.

''Oliver, I want to sleep,'' she spoke boldly.

''It can't,'' he groaned suddenly all coldly back over his shoulder.

''But I won't tell James -''

''It just can't!'' he interrupted her. She was silent in her perplexity when his behaviour switched in some swift second to the cold-hearted Oliver again.

''But you were like five minutes ago so nice and -''

''Stop digging into my mental wall and morals,'' he groaned. ''Let me be, and now please shut your mouth. Thank you.'' She wailed a 'but' once more, but Oliver already groaned to himself something about having regret what he did when he calmed her down.

Five minutes later he had dressed himself and scooped her up again to bring her back to Elsa. She was too tired, too weak to protest and everything hurt. Her head hung backwards and almost laid for her idea lifeless in his arms while he carried her to the dark room where she had been sitting for already almost four days.

She was again burned down to ashes, and she wanted how many times she could afford it to raise from them again, because she knew one day this phoenix inside her would die.

And then, then it was bad lot.

* * *

**Why she calls Oliver 'Ravi' will be explained, yeah? It's not another name mistake I made lol.**

**This 'rape' scene has a reason and also Oliver's switch in behaviour HAS A VERY GOOD REASON. This scene is not to add some more drama in the story even when it feels like this right now. About Victoria's drama attitude and constantly whining about her parents; the child is mentally unstable, has been through a lot and has a bipolar disorder. I have the same mood swings as Victoria and trust me, you can't do anything about it. You can only think of the things you don't have, the things you hate about yourself and so on. You can't expect from this character to be positive right now even when she's already like this ever since you met her. **

**But trust me, within four chapters you'll be redeemed from her negativity. **

**ANNOUNCEMENT: I WILL CHANGE MY PENNAME TO 'BlossomofEos'.**

**Because I hate gracialoveme. It has no freaking logic. This name means a lot to me.**


	32. Chapter XXVII Remorse and bullets

**INFORMATION ABOUT LAURENCE LEFÈVRE, CEO OF THE ISA, WHO WILL APPEAR IN THIS CHAPTER:**

_Laurence Lefèvre was the CEO, founder of the ISA and your boss if you worked for this mighty company. If you, as an agent, wanted to get the honour to meet her you had to manage to impress her so she would invite you to her office in Paris, and now the last thing was something almost no one had seemed to achieve until today. _

_Laurence was seen as really pretty with her black hair, although she looked Celtic with her quite pale complexion. Her eyes were brown and could either spit fire or give love. The woman always wore the newest fashion and if you'd see her walking down the street you would think she was nothing more but a gold digger that lived from the money of her husband, but in fact, it was her and not her drop-dead beautiful husband who earned most of the money to buy her Chanel purses from._

_She had one seventeen-year-old daughter named Sophie, who -if she had to believe the stories- did everything God had forbidden. On the contrary when it came to Laurence's dog, a svelte Dalmatian named Zara, who always listened to her owner. __Zara was the only thing that could change her eyes from igneous into showing love. The woman was just known to be cold and standoffish. Thereby, she drew a strict line between business and private life._

_The CEO could be a total bitch to you if she didn't like you, but if she did or if you managed to earn her respect either the dog's –a true impossible mission-; the tycoon could be quite nice. For now the chance of meeting her either her beautiful Dalmatian was practically impossible. -Or you had to believe your personal fairy godmother was about to visit you and would __bibbidy bobbidy boo__ you to Laurence and Zara-._

**This is also in -edited- chapter I but I don't think you still remember her.**

**For photos of all the OC's and such go to my Pinterest board called 'TVOL' or find me under the pinner name 'BlossomofEos'. I PLACED THE LINK THAT REFERS YOU TO MY PROFILE ON PINTEREST ON MY PROFILE. **

**Yes, I already changed my name on Pinterest from 'gracialoveme' to my new pinner name.**

**CHAPTER XXVII: remorse and bullets**

**JACK**

''_Welcome to the new trainings centre of the international ISA headquarter, here in uptown New York. We hope you have a pleasant but most of all instructive stay here.'' _

It was Laurence Lefêvre, CEO of the ISA secret service, who'd talked. She'd decided to come to the international headquarter in New York to watch the special training only her most high standing agents got.

Jack looked up and noticed his boss stood behind a panorama glass wall on the first floor, which gave sight over the modern trainings space.

Laurence's slightly frizzy, long black hair was moved over her shoulder, a black cocoon dress emphasised her petite body and as always was she wearing high heels –the Française wasn't tall-. In her hands she held an iPad Pro. Zara, her beautiful svelte Dalmatian, was on her side, sitting next to her owner.

Her chin was lifted in dignity as if she was being crowned with the title 'Queen', now her brown eyes stared authoritatively at her agents.

He would finally meet Laurence in person after all those years of yearning, waiting and dreaming. The splendid and mighty woman was a bulletproof bitch with an attitude you said 'vous' to, plus she loved her company almost more than her husband. -It was one of the many reasons why she was so feared and yet loved to the Française's amusement-.

The most modern training techniques were used and he felt proud he was chosen along with fifteen other agents from all over the world to participate in the program. He could see Laurence's aura glowed in proud when she stared at all she'd achieved.

He felt pressure now Laurence was watching him from above with her narrowed eyes. Once more, she stood behind a glass wall on the first floor.

He had his arms crossed, his chin tilted slightly, and he narrowed his eyes a bit more. His teacher was about to teach him and his colleagues how to disarm someone with a gun. She was British and kicked ass -hard-. Apparently she was called Ella. Her blonde hair flowed in curls down her back.

Jackie, the mischievous voice in his head, was already staring at everything God had forbidden.

"Mr. Frost, what's your answer?" He looked shocked up and snapped out of thoughts when the smarmy voice of Ella reached his eardrums. His eyes darted up to face his teacher.

Everybody turned his or her face in curiosity in Jack's direction. The agent felt how he blushed and he bit his lip. He murmured an answer, trying to dodge the question but Ella already interrupted him. "I've just said it, Jack. Pay attention to the training, please," she winked friendly and the next second she fixated herself on someone else who did have an answer on her question.

He just _felt_ Laurence's ruthless and disapproving gaze burning in his back. He gnashed teeth and he could slap himself for fucking up this opportunity to show her he was worth it to work for her, that he was the new living legend after Hans, and that he was the next generation with high potential.

He groaned heartedly when again this weird, ominous gut feeling attacked him like a tsunami hitting shore. He heard in the background how the talking continued, and Jack paid more attention to thinking and wandering in his lost mind than looking at a –in his opinion, at the moment- stupid training.

The feeling hit him once more and he couldn't place it. He hated it since it meant he had no control over a situation. He stood behind the row of people, -out of Laurence's sight- and he revealed his phone to check the news to be sure nothing was wrong. After scrolling his newsfeed down for a few minutes, his eyes widened in utter shock when seeing the headline _'private detective Elsa Winters gone'_ and then another article said _'daughter of national ballet talent Aurelie Leroux still missing'_.

He could almost feel how he became pale as snow, and he bit his lip so hard it hurt. "Shit!" he cursed while he ran through his hair in panic. Luckily everybody was busy with training, so talking and other muffles overpowered his coarse words.

"What's wrong?" He heard a voice behind him. When he turned around he saw Ella stood close to him. She smiled warmly as well a bit confused at him, before she laid her hand on his shoulder. She'd probably heard as the only one his cursing.

Jack tried to hide his shock when he turned his head in her direction. He tried to smile coyly, but it was very strained and so to see Ella saw it. He glanced for one second upwards to look at Laurence who was now clearly staring at him. Her gaze was so thorough and suspicious that he was almost scared to look his boss in the eyes.

No wonder; those brown eyes were quite terrifying.

"Elsa," he confessed.

"She's a dear friend of me, please tell me what's happened." Ella's eyes slightly widened when noticing his concerned expression.

"We have a case together in that new program of the ISA.''

''The program were agents pretend to be a married couple, need to live in one apartment and need to cooperate? Like the one where the one who solves the case gets a promotion?''

He nodded. ''Listen, the foster daughter of the people where money has been stolen from is missing. But she has connections with Pitch," Jack spoke as his eyes moved slightly away from her for a second, before they found hers again as he bit his lip.

"You have a case with Pitch Black?" Ella whispered in disbelieve, trying to make sure no one would hear it since they both knew it was no one's business to know each other's cases.

Never had Laurence's eyebrow arched so far upwards. Apparently she could lip read and it was clear the CEO somehow tried to hide her shock. It was nothing for the fiery, yet cold Française to react in this quite extreme way for her being.

Laurence was a high-class lady and James was an outcast of the society as a ruthless criminal. They were polar opposites and Jack wanted to know why Laurence, reacted like a magnet when she heard the name of James.

"Yes, I have a case with Pitch Black. Listen, Elsa wanted to go out and search for Victoria, the girl that's missing, but I got a call that said I had to come to the international headquarter here in New York. I told North, my boss and CEO of the ISA in LA, that I couldn't come, but he said there were no exceptions. I already said to Elsa she wasn't allowed to go after Victoria on her own, but now I see a headline saying '_private detective Elsa Winters gone'_," Jack spoke through gritted teeth as he occasionally moved his eyebrows upwards as he spoke.

The silence that arose after his words wasn't a problem at all for Jack and somehow he wished it would last longer. It seemed like Ella was thinking or considering something. "You know what, Jack? Go and find her."

"What?! But North will never agree on that, let alone Laurence!" Jack protested.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the two will be informed. And if both of them hear the name 'Pitch Black'…Jack, I can insist you that Laurence will try everything to prevent more deaths and injured people. Now go and find Elsa!"

Without thinking Jack hugged her tightly. "Thanks El."

Ella smiled warmly at him before she spoke. "You're welcome. Now Prince Charming, save your princess," she winked deviously, a thing he'd never seen her doing, but he liked it!

Jack walked backwards while she spoke.

"I will," before he ran off, determined to find Elsa back.

Before it was too late.

**ELSA**

She lay lifelessly on the ground, feeling how the perpetual darkness that shrouded her took her hope of survival away.

The situation was helpless.

Victoria hadn't spoken a single word to her after Oliver raped her. She just lied lifelessly on the ground with her back to Elsa. Sometimes Elsa could hear how she was begging and silently pleading if there was a bullet to end her life with.

She couldn't express her feelings and so she became unrulier and more restless with the second. The situation had become so extreme that she was now even pleading for the medication she normally always refused to take. Elsa understood taking pills against your temper and character wasn't fun, but Victoria now finally seemed to understand why she had to take them.

She couldn't live without them.

Elsa shifted tentatively over the floor, towards Victoria. She reached out her hand for the girl's shoulder. Victoria almost seemed to jump up when she felt the physical contact. "Hands _off me_," she hissed pissed-off over her shoulder, before putting her head back on the floor. She crawled up into a ball and softly sniffed.

"Victoria, this is what happens when you don't take your medication -"

"Do I have it then?!" she shot bitchily at Elsa. Their eyes met and never had Elsa seen such a mean sparkle in the redhead's eyes. She startled when she saw it.

"No..." Elsa sighed. Elsa began softly in curiosity after a long silence. "Victoria, about your henna tattoo on your shoulder, did Oliver push you to take it?''

Victoria sighed heavily in an annoyed tone. "No, it was me who wanted that my whole back would be painted with a symbol of _effing_ death, now good?!" she spoke sarcastically and she turned herself to Elsa.

When Elsa didn't understand her sarcasm, Victoria exclaimed with a roll of her eyes. ''Of course that dick pushed me!''

Without any question for further explanation Victoria continued. "Now I finally realise how lucky I've been in the end… if it'd been some toxic black henna…trust me Eloise you don't want to see the scars and wounds it can cause."

"Who did it?"

"Oliver can do it himself, he's a quite ambitious human being, believe me." It surprised Elsa Victoria spoke nice about someone, since the redhead was infamously known for her rapid tongue.

Elsa decided to speak after a long silence. "I still don't get why he's calling you phoenix."

"I once asked it and this was his answer; _'because I need a girl with the fire in her eyes and the survival in her veins.' _What an idiotic answer," Victoria snorted with a roll of her eyes.

"You know what I don't understand about him? He is pale as snow, looks European but still has black hair. I don't know he's handsome for sure but it scares the hell out of me in some way. He doesn't even look human to me sometimes."

"Secretly, he's a vampire, now good?" Victoria laughed sarcastically before Eloise giggled with her. "No, but he once told me this when I had a sleepover at him like four months ago," Victoria ended seriously.

**FLASHBACK**

''Dad never told my mother's nationality, but I am half British because my father is, and I have Celtic influences in my blood,'' Oliver shrugged apathetically, before he stared at this black pentagram ring. He always wore it and she wondered what the symbol meant. He had this knife, which he took with him everywhere he went to and on the blade of it was the same pentagram burned.

And then not to forget the pentagram necklace he always wore.

She snuggled under the sheets of his bed against him before putting her head on his chest. It was half past two in the night and she couldn't sleep. Because of that they'd just decided to talk till they were tired.

''But you have an American accent. Like me,'' she spoke in incomprehension."

"That's because I've practically grown up in the United States. When I was four dad and I moved from Ireland to California and on my fourteenth we moved here, to New York."

It was silent after his words. She fumbled with his shirt before she spoke mockingly.

"You said to me in this super serious conversation we once had that I'm special. But why? What makes me different from all the other people on earth?"

He was silent as he stared at the ceiling. Then, he spoke. "You have something with the element fire, Victoria. Isn't it because I can compare you to a phoenix because of your past, then it is surely because of your personality. Also, if you would go to an acupuncturist he would treat you as a person with the element fire. Because all persons who are the element 'fire' have or heart diseases, or such things as disorders. Also, fire is related with the colour red and you have red hair."

"And when you're yelling at me when you're mad I just see it burning your eyes," he snickered.

"Ha ha," she rolled her eyes when he'd spoken his last sentence.

"I mean it Vic when I'm talking about your element. There're five and I believe in Wicca, a witch belief from the Celts, which also works with the five elements water, fire, air, earth, and the most important one spirit or in old terms magic."

She listened attentively to his words because actually, she was really interested.

"Most of the people who believe in it or do Wiccan rituals have Celtic names besides their 'real' one. My mother's Celtic name is Morag. I don't know more of her, not even her real name. My normal name is Oliver, but my Celtic is Ravi.'' He'd never spoken so openly about his past.

Victoria looked up in confusion when she heard the new name.

''But I only like the name when it's pronounced in the Dutch or French way,'' he snickered. ''Ralph, as a person with Dutch background, once said 'Ravi' in Dutch. I fucking loved how it sounded,'' Oliver snickered. ''We English people pronounce the 'A' differently than the Dutch. If you say the letter 'A' in English, it's sounds for the Dutch as the letter 'E'. It's quite fucked because in English my name sounds like 'Ree-vi'. Weird shit, believe me.''

Victoria laughed.

''It's Ravi,'' he spoke in Dutch and Victoria raised her eyebrow when she heard the name. ''You can try it. If you say for example 'I love ya', then only take the 'a' of the word 'ya', sing the 'A' like you're warming your voice up for singing, and then you have the Dutch pronunciation of the letter 'A'. In the name 'Ravi' the 'A' is long, so it sounds like 'Raa-vi'."

''Ravi,'' she repeated in the weird and new accent.

"Yeah you got it, baby," he complimented her with a quick wink. She squirmed when hearing how he called her.

"And me? How about my Celtic name?" she snickered deviously. She shifted on top of him and laid her arms in his neck. His hands glided all the way down her back, to her butt.

"Grabbing my ass huh?" she giggled while running through his hair.

"Yeah," he smirked. They bended and she pressed a long kiss on his lips. They broke apart and he spoke, "But about your Celtic name… I like "Val', which means powerful, strong. Thereby, if you ever need a latent name, take the name 'Veronique Aurelie Leroux' and not 'Victoria'. VAL; Veronique Aurelie Leroux. The three names are your official, mother's and maiden's name together. Quite a clever one isn't it?"

She nodded in response with a giggle before sealing his lips once more with a kiss.

**END FLASHBACK**

**HANS**

The redhead chopped as fast as he could vegetables in the 'Jamie Oliver way' –Victoria's words, not his-, as a cloth rested on his shoulder. Hans was cooking today's dinner and as always he was lost in thoughts when he did so.

After all those years he'd become used to being alone.

He moved in a swift movement his knife over the cutting board to shove the onions in the pan and the vegetables immediately sizzled when they came in contact with the hot surface.

He frowned and quickly wiped the tears off his face with the sleeve of his blouse. The jacket of his business suit hung on one of the chairs at the dining table.

He thought about the past days, all what he'd done to Elsa, Victoria. He closed his eyes in regret, in shame. He wanted to forget, but he couldn't.

The words of what Victoria had once said to him echoed in his mind lately. It had been one of the many evenings where he had to look after her because Lewis and Katherine were busy with their own lives, but he didn't mind. He and Victoria always talked for hours, or he watched movies with the little hothead.

"_I'd also be so happy if someone really important for me could take me in.'' _

_And then she added the painful words. ''Someone like you."_

_"I can't Victoria." He sighed wistfully in despondence as he closed his eyes firmly. _

_"Why not? I won't bother you, you're alone and I don't want that and-"_

_"It just can't!" Hans interrupted her firmly. Victoria was silent and cast her eyes down, so to see in slight disappointment after realising she had to stay at the Smith's._ Then, her eyes darted up again to start talking about something different.

_"Hans... There is this photo standing hanging on the wall in the living room and that woman looks exactly like my mother," Victoria began in suspicion. "And if it's her, then I want to know if you know her." _

_"Yes I know her, she was married with my best friend." _

_Victoria's eyes shut open in shock and she exclaimed. "You know my mother?! Let's find her back together! –"_

_"I'm as long as you busy with trying to find her back, Victoria, but I'm constantly confronted with a dead end."_

_Victoria bit her lip. "Oh…" In the background the movie –Frozen, their all time favourite- resumed, but Victoria was apparently so tired that she her eyelids lowered more and more with the second. Within minutes she fell asleep, with her head leaning against his shoulder. _

He hugged the sleeping Victoria for a moment, and whispered.

"I'll find your mum back, Victoria I promise."

"Her and your sister."

**DAMN BITCHES PLOT TWIST.**

**I must say I had a lot of trouble with writing another damn flashback about Victoria and Hans, but I had no other fucking choice. **

**Sorry. **

**I tried to keep it as short as possible.**

**O my God, NEXT CHAPTER PEOPLE. **

**GET READY FOR SOME ACTION. **

**IT'S DONE WITH THE FILLERS AND SWEET FLASHBACKS. IT'S DONE WITH CUTE CHAPTERS AND THE QUESTIONING 'WHEN WILL THIS FUCKING END?" "WHEN WILL WE FUCKING GET SOME ANSWERS?"**

**PREPARE YOURSELF FOR SOME GRUESOMELY GOOD CLIFFHANGERS. **

**YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HATE ME SO HARD HAHAHA.**

**Also, when the next chapter's out you'll get a mail with the notification 'BlossomofEos' updated Nemesis. IT'S ME, IRENE YEAH? Don't freak out by thinking 'whuuut who is this creepy kid?"**

**Until next week!**

**Review answers:**

**LittleTimothy: Thank you! So fun we have each other on Instagram now!**

**Madison: Yes, that was a typo and about the name, thanks! Now you finally know what the name 'Ravi' means so yeah, here you have it. It's his Celtic name. YES! Till next time!**

**XE Captain; waahaha Ikr? Yeah I know what you get with tension and that you almost stopped reading and such, but I'm glad you made it. Wahaha concept thing lol. YES I PROMISE WE'RE GETTING BACK TO THE PLOT NEXT CHAPTER. **


	33. Chapter XXVIII: code 318

**Chapter XXVIII: code 318**

**JACK**

The sound of rapid footsteps disturbed the serene silence in the corridor of the modern apartment complex. Several curse words and hitched breathings escaped Jack's lips, as he made his way home.

He was running to their apartment door as fast as his legs allowed him to. A turn was made, and his sweaty hands quickly grabbed in a flash the nearest wall to not slip on the sleek white marble floor. The stress, anxiety but most of all suspense was slowly becoming a manner to kill his hope that Elsa and Victoria were still alive.

He tried to put the key in the front door, but his hands were trembling like a deer facing a shotgun. He was too nervous, too stressed. "I'm sorry for being such an egocentric dick, Elsa," he whispered in regret and shame, but only the walls could hear his supplications.

"Victoria, I'm sorry I had prejudices about you," Jack whispered wistfully, "and I'm sorry for calling you a bitch behind your back." He gave up trying and smashed the key on the floor with a loud groan. In desperation and distraught he began to drum with his fists on the front door, even though he knew nobody was at home.

Elsa was gone, and he feared for her life.

"I'm sorry for not respecting you when you didn't want to have sex with me, Elsa." He had a bad habit of talking to himself, but he just couldn't help it.

He sighed heavily when realising he had no other choice; if he ever wanted to enter the apartment he had to unlock the door with the key. He dove to the ground to pick it up and he tried to unlock the door once more. Aiming and trying to concentrate himself didn't work apparently, so he decided in despair to aimlessly hit the first spot in the keyhole he saw.

"I'm sorry for being such a dick, I'm sorry!" He was nearly yelling. The fact no one answered, neither heard him, gave him a feeling of hurt. "I'm sorry for acting better than I am, I'm sorry for being a dominant dick, I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry that I exist okay?!" He'd burst out in tears in the meantime. It'd been a long time ago he cried; he used to conceal his feelings and insecurities.

The tears kept running down his cheeks and if they had voices to express their emotions with, their clamour would make him deaf now.

He buried his face in his hands and began to sob his eyes out like a little boy. He leaned with his back against the front door to sink to the ground.

His drooping shoulders jolted and his chest moved outwards his sobs. Then, a voice in his head spoke to him. It was a voice he'd never heard before. It wasn't Jack Frost, it wasn't Jackson Overland, no; it was Jackson Overland Frost who spoke.

And it said that if he wouldn't get as fast as he could his ass out of here, -and that was Jackie- that he would never get Elizabeth, neither Victoria back. -and that was Jackson-

It wasn't Jack Frost, neither Jackson Overland, no; it was Jackson Overland Frost who spoke.

Jackson Overland Frost.

And now it wasn't born for only Elsa, no; now it was born for the whole world.

**VICTORIA **

Victoria opened slowly and weakly her eyes after she awoke from her everlasting comatose. The memories ran through her mind of what all James had said, of all what'd happened.

After she'd managed to make a way out of the ropes that bond her wrists she ran through the doorway, onto the corridor. Oliver was in his room and luckily he left her alone, James was at home, and Hans and Elsa were in the kitchen after Elsa had nearly fainted out of starvation.

_She impatiently tried to open the front door, the portal to her freedom, but it was locked. She began to impatiently drum with her fists on the door while crying her eyes out. All she wanted was freedom, all she wanted was to be treated like a person, not a thing, an animal, a phoenix. _

_She turned her head over her shoulder to check if no one saw her. She startled when noticing someone quickly dove away behind a doorpost. _

_She turned her head back and kept ramming on the door with her fists like she was possessed, when she heard a husky voice behind her. It lowered into raspy whispers. _

"_Look what we have here, a runaway." _

_Her heart skipped a beat and she let out a squeal in fear when two hands grabbed her from behind to instantly pin her against the wall. She stared straightly into James' eyes. His grip felt so firm, and she was so scared of him that she didn't dare to fight against him._

_She swallowed nervously and when she closed her eyes a tear escaped her eye. Before she could react James groaned, "walk." Where to? She didn't even know, but she obeyed and with blurred sight she strolled back to that God damned almost empty room she'd been put in for nearly four days now. And she thought the three days at Hans were bad. _

_She noticed James kept walking behind her and at one point his hand was put possessively on her shoulder. She shuddered and hissed under her breath he had to keep his hands off her, but he didn't listen. She looked up when Oliver stood in the doorway of his room, which bordered to the corridor after he'd probably heard voices. He'd seen everything, he'd seen her trying to escape and he hadn't done anything. _

_He could've betrayed her. _

_Once arrived in the empty room she began to call 'Nyx' -because of all sins that occurred there- James closed the door behind her and smirked wickedly. A nerving silence arose and she didn't know what to do, what to say. _

"_You disappoint me, really," he began sinisterly and he made his way to her. She stood in the middle of the empty room and felt small under his ruthless gaze. _

"_I'd expected a better attempt from you to escape," he sighed indifferently, still with that vile smirk planted on his hollow face. "Oh well, so to see I overestimated you." He stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, as his nose nuzzled in her hair. She stared forward and didn't move. _

"_Listen, dear," he whispered mellifluously, and his hand ran through her wavy tresses. He moved it over her shoulder and his grip on it soon tightened. "Try this once more and I'll make an end to it." _

"_I don't believe you," she hissed boldly. _

"_You think I don't do what I say, neither promise, but I've made some people's darkest nightmares reality," he hissed in her ear and she flinched. "So if I were you, I would pay attention which words you take in that spry mouth of yours."_

"_Huh, you want to fight?" she challenged him resolutely. _

"_I don't play games with naïve little girls like you." His voice lowered to a grim tone, dark, ominous. "I kill them off." Her eyes widened in shock. His whispers in her ear made her hackles stand straight up._

"_One. By. One." _

_And with these words he smashed her with no warning as hard as he could against the near wall._

She felt James began to beat her up and soon a touch of violence kissed her into a comatose.

_Or was it death?_

* * *

**JACK**

Finally, he'd managed to enter his apartment. He grabbed his MacBook and opened the ISA database.

"Victoria's mobile..." he murmured to himself and he began to type her phone number down. "Locate," he murmured and he pressed with a last move the 'enter' button. He waited till a signal would appear somewhere above New York but there was nothing. He zoomed out to see the rest of the United States, but there was nothing.

"Did someone kidnap that kid to the North Pole or so?!" he groaned in irritation when he wasn't able to find her.

The agent bit his under lip and then tried to locate Elsa's mobile.

Signal.

"Take that mother fuckers," he smirked victoriously and he read the address quickly. So to see Elsa was somewhere in Brooklyn. He put the location in his notes and wanted to get up to save the day, but then he realised

this was the fault he always made; he was too stubborn to ask for help from colleagues or the police. He grabbed his mobile and dialled the number of the international headquarter in New York.

"_Welcome to the international headquarter of the ISA, you speak with Toothiana Teruko._" He looked up when he heard the voice. He was calling to the international headquarter, not to LA!

"Tooth! Has North given you a promotion?!" he exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

"_Yes Jack, I know right it's like so awesome here!" _Toothiana squealed in mirth, but then immediately cleared her throat and became serious again. "_What's the matter and with do I speak?" _

Jack rolled with his eyes, but he understood she had to go through some basic procedures. "It's an emergency and you speak with Jack Frost, also known under the alias JOF27. I'm working for the ISA in Los Angeles."

"_What's the emergency?" _

"Is the phrase 'Pitch Black' enough to send the whole police corps and some of our agents to 229 Duffield St, Brooklyn, NY 11201? This is the day, Tooth, today I'm finally going to throw that pimp into jail," he groaned determinedly. He walked as he spoke to the coat stand to grab a thick coat to make sure the cold wouldn't bother him.

"229 Duffield St, Brooklyn, NY 11201_? Sure, they're on their way! Colleagues like Astrid and Hiccup will assist you in the raid; they're here for the training you've sneaked out of,_" Tooth spoke matter-of-factly. He just knew the phone was sandwiched between her shoulder and cheek as she telephoned while she was filing her nails.

The former Japanese dentist in training loved nails and teeth and he thought the combination was somehow hilariously awesome.

He grabbed his gun, put it close to his back on the height of his hip, and walked to the front door as he spoke with a wide grin.

"Tell North I'll be picking up my car keys at him after I've celebrated _my _new andwell-deserved promotion."

* * *

He stepped out of his car and approached four black police minivans that already stood at the corner of the street, waiting for him. He ran to one of the cars, and quickly turned his head over his shoulder to see if there was anyone who could spot him, but the neighbourhood seemed as good as extinct.

He knocked a code pattern, before leaning with his back against the door. A quick yelp escaped his lips when the door slid away and someone grabbed him to pull him into the minivan. It was quite dark inside once the door was shut again and he blinked with his eyes to see something.

Ten policemen in bulletproof vests and dark clothes sat in the minivan with their Heckler &amp; Koch MP5 shotguns in their hands. It was so silent he could hear a pin drop and obnoxiously, the men stared at him.

"_Yo Jackie, you're looking in the wrong direction,"_ he heard a voice saying. When he turned in confusion his head he stared in the big blue eyes of his ISA colleague and best friend, _Astrid_.

He made a noise in happiness he'd never known he could make; it was this heartedly fangirl shriek so he sounded like a retarded dolphin. He hugged her tightly in mirth and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. As he wrapped his arms around Astrid and laid his head on her shoulder, he stared straightly into the green eyes of Hiccup. As soon as he broke apart from the Swedish blonde, he hugged his buddy tightly.

"I've missed you so much guys!" he muffled in Hiccup's shoulder, and he shuffled in his hug forward to wrap his left arm around Astrid's neck for a group hug.

"Okay, enough cuddling, now back off you love birds," Astrid chuckled warningly. Jack let go and Astrid spoke seriously. "You're the chief now Jack. You guide me, Hiccup and twenty other ISA and police agents what we're going to do. The only thing we know yet is that we're going to throw that _son of a Pitch_ in jail and that we're going to kick ass."

"Astrid, please be professional, we're cooperating with the police corps and they can hear you; you're headset is in connection with their headquarter, the commissary, and the other minivans," Hiccup sulked.

Astrid rolled dramatically her eyes and covered with her hand the microphone. "Listen Jack, we're going to kick that little shit, plus his ass so hard to back when Snowwhite was made," she hissed determinedly through gritted teeth and Jack giggled girly.

"That's my girlfriend," Hiccup spoke proudly and he laid his arm around her shoulder to pull her close, before he kissed her on her cheek. Astrid pulled away and Hiccup's eyes slightly widened. Astrid laughed when noticing his insecurity and she cupped fiercely his cheeks before pressing firmly her lips on his for a long kiss.

Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets when hearing how Hiccup actually called Astrid. "No way... Hiccup you're in a relation with Astrid?! Tell me, is she as good as I said in the bedroom?" He gloated and Hiccup turned crimson while running through his hair.

Then he spoke sturdily; "Oh hell yeah, and you know that she's heavenly when -"

Astrid hissed embarrassed they had to shut the fuck up because the police could hear their conversations again, now she'd pulled her hand off from the microphone. "Seriously Hiccup, please discuss our sex life when I'm not in your presence," Astrid groaned as she put her hand on the microphone again. She continued; "thereby Elsa's and that Veronique's life is at stake if I've heard the rumours well."

Hiccup and Jack were once more giggling like schoolgirls, but once Astrid had spoken her last sentence their smirks faded.

"Indeed Astrid, you're totally right."

"But Jack, do you even know it's Pitch who is behind this? And maybe Veronique isn't with Elsa!" Hiccup protested.

"Hiccup, the only person who could possibly live in a near extinct quarter in some downtown Brooklyn neighbourhood is Pitch Black in this case, I mean there is no one else I can think of to kidnap a private detective and a sixteen-year-old. And Veronique isn't at Hans Westerguard, that financial advisor of the Smith's, because the police has already done a raid in his apartment. She must be here, and Elsa is here for sure."

"How do you know?" Astrid frowned.

"I tracked her mobile," Jack replied.

"So tell me the full story, because all I heard is that the daughter of Aurelie Leroux, some Veronique, ran away after playing her premiere at Broadway and that she still hasn't been found. People are claiming she committed suicide, so now my question is; why on earth are you trying to find a girl that's probably lying somewhere dead in a gutter?!" Astrid commented.

"Because she has connections with Pitch Black. I don't know if you've ever heard her story but when she was four she was involved in a shooting, which was actually committed by our infamous friend," Jack groaned.

"So… you think Pitch is out on vengeance or so? Like, do you think he wants to kill her eleven years later anyway?"

"Who knows?" Jack sighed despondently.

"But, tell me the story. Where is the case about?" Astrid demanded.

"Okay, four months ago there was 6,900,000 dollars drained off the bank account of the family Smith, who is in possession of this big bank in New York. They have a foster daughter, Veronique, but everybody knows her as Victoria, and we soon discovered she stole the passwords of her dad, Michael Smith, to give them to her boyfriend Oliver Black, who is then the son of Pitch Black, you still follow me?"

They nodded.

"We soon got to know her backstory and that revealed the father of her boyfriend actually shot her mother in the shooting she was involved in eleven years ago. Then all this drama happened, the kid is a bit mentally instable with her bipolarity, PTSD, XTC and self-harm, but deep down she's awesome and kickass, just a cool kid with a golden heart. Anyway, we went to her musical premiere on Broadway where she surprised her foster parents she can actually do ballet and dance on point shoes –she held it a secret from them- and then they became mad, and then she became mad and then she ran away and now Victoria's gone."

"Wow," Astrid groaned impressed after hearing the story.

"Trust me, this is not even the detailed version of what's actually happened. The kid also got a henna tattoo with the symbol and warning of death on her shoulder blades and did everything God has forbidden, but yeah to resume my story; Elsa has been so stupid to go after her, and now I have to play Prince Charming who has to save the day."

It was silent and Jack thought some super dramatic quote would be shared, but then Hiccup giggled immaturely while poking him a bit;

"And…have you had sex with her eventually? I mean with Elsa."

"Almost. In the shower." Jack wiggled his eyebrows.

Hiccup made a fist and bit in it before he whistled impressed. "Damn… but why almost? -" he groaned in pain when Astrid poked him and shot a death glare before pointing at her headset with a mortifying glare.

"Never mind," Hiccup quickly spoke.

"Guys, I have to warn you for if you meet Victoria; she has a Bipolar Disorder and if you approach her, especially now in this extreme situation, she can freak out. Just leave her alone and only approach her when she asks for it," he warned them.

"What's her appearance and age?" Astrid asked matter-of-factly.

Jack noticed all the other agents in the minivan also listened to their conversation, and so Jack raised his voice so everybody heard it. "She has wavy auburn hair that reaches her elbows, green eyes, a sharp jawline, narrow lips, very light freckles, has a small B cup, and is about 1.74 long. Oh and the kid is sixteen," he rattled.

"_JOF27 are you there? This is CGH#3."_ A voice came from the microphone and they knew it was Gazelle, yet another agent of the ISA. JOF27 was his alias and CGH#3 was Gazelle's.

Astrid gave Jack her headset when they called his alias. He put it on and spoke. "Yes, CGH#3 we're there. We're standing at the forefront of the building." Jack looked up to stare at a video camera that showed live streaming of the street.

"_Prepare everyone for the raid_," Gazelle spoke soberly, as always.

"_Jack, is there any movement?"_ He heard another voice asking. It was North. He'd connected to the conversation and Jack knew he watched everything from LA in his office_. "Are you sure it's Black we're talking about?"_

"No, but wait..." He zoomed in so he could see better on his screen what was happening in the street. "A car is parking in front of the house," he informed and he immediately switched over to the connection with Gazelle. _"CGH#3, a black range rover parks in front of the house. Check the license plate and tell me if it's Hans Westerguard's." _

It was silent on the other side of the line, and all police agents plus his two best friends in the minivan stared in pending at Jack. He raised his eyebrow when noticing a redhead stepped out of the car and Jack hissed through gritted teeth "That little shit," before switching over to North again. "North, it's Hans."

_"I checked the license plate and it's indeed Hans Westerguard," _Gazelle affirmed. "_What do we do, JOF27? Attack?"_ Gazelle continued business-like.

Jack hummed absently while continuing to stare at the live video. Hans knocked on the front door of an apartment. "No, wait." He saw door opened and Jack zoomed in with the camera to see who'd opened it.

"The seventeen-year-old son of Pitch, Oliver, opened the door," Jack informed Gazelle. He switched over to the connection with North again and spoke. "I said it, North! We're dealing with Pitch Black!"

"_Good JOF27, you have the superior officer's permission to start the operation,"_ North replied.

Jack switched once more over to the connection with Gazelle and the other agents in the minivans. "Guys, we know which house to pick now. We have permission from the superior officer to begin the raid so let's begin. CGH#3, surround the building, but don't do anything yet. Wait for my instructions, understood?"

_"I will tell my men to surround the building,"_ Gazelle replied.

Jack put the headset off and gave it to Astrid again. "Astrid, I go inside and see if I can get Elsa and Veronique out of that building to then come back and handcuff Black and his son. If something goes wrong, or if I get into trouble I'll contact you and the whole crew. If I don't come after forty-five minutes out of the building start the warrant, because then there's a chance I was too late with calling for help, 'kay?"

Astrid nodded affirmatively.

"Yes, of course. And remember, if you find someone dead or unconscious and think he or she can't recover say 'code 318'." Jack nodded in response. "Now go and get them!" She hugged Jack tightly for the last time before letting go. Jack hadn't even broken apart from Astrid when Hiccup already hugged him. The two patted each other on their backs, before breaking apart.

"Save your princess," his buddy smiled before he opened the door of the minivan and Jack jumped out of it.

He sighed as he closed his eyes and realised this was the moment; Pitch Black was about to get thrown into jail.

A group of about fifteen armed police agents surrounded the building of Pitch when Jack approached it. Jack showed his ISA ID card and they nodded. He ran to the door of the family black and examined how he could get in the house without causing any noise.

"JOF27," an agent whispered through gritted teeth and Jack looked up. The police men spoke as he loaded his firearm. "There's a window you can easily force on the right side of the building."

Jack nodded and ran into a small alley that separated Pitch's apartment from another one. He bit his lip and searched for a window. On the first floor he found one. He climbed his way up the drainpipe and forced the window without any problem to clamber inside.

He fell with a thud on the ground and once a fierce men perfume filled his nostrils it wasn't hard to guess in whose room he'd stumbled upon; Oliver's. He wondered how many girls had lain naked in that bed of him.

Knowing Oliver, more than the amount of sins he had.

He walked out of the room, onto a long corridor and a musky smell filled his nostrils. A dusty chandelier hung on the ceiling and to his surprise Pitch seemed like a man with style. Jack pricked up his ears to hear if anyone was at home, but it was nearly silent. Then, he heard the sounds in the room at the end of the corridor and he walked strategically away from them.

He double-checked if he had his Semi-Automat with him and focused himself.

He walked further through the corridor and passed several doors. He decided to randomly open one and he entered a living room. He now realised Pitch's apartment was actually an old industrial building. The black steel combined perfectly with the modern furniture, which had a dark colour. A wall was filled with black and white photos of New York, skyscrapers and the skyline and Jack stared in full interest at it.

A groan escaped Jack's lips when he had to admit that Pitch definitely had taste. He frowned when a smoke smell filled his nostrils.

No wonder; his son smoked like a chimney.

It was rather peaceful. Too peaceful for a criminal who kept two people in his apartment. He turned around and walked through the corridor again. He took the first door he saw when hearing footsteps.

Jack sneaked into an empty room that was good as dark to hide there. The wooden floor felt cold under his feet and the walls were as blank as his mind. He sighed in relief when the footsteps of the person died away now he had walked past the door.

He turned around and leaned with his back against the door while running a hand through his hair.

Then his eyes widened in shock and he twitched when noticing that in the corner of the room a body lay.

He narrowed his eyes and took sight of the features of the person. Long wavy auburn hair that had lost its gloss was spread out over the floor, the person's complexion was as pale as the moon and the figure's eyes were closed.

He then saw it was a teenage girl. There was no doubt this was Victoria.

Drops of blood ran down the wall, onto the floor next to her corpse. She lay crawled up into a ball on her side and seemed so fragile, so little, nearly like a little girl.

The skin around her wrists was irritated, bleeding in its ripped off state, which was caused by friction of probably ropes. Both of her arms were filled with new fresh cuts and scars, and some blood drops that seeped down her arm had dried up. The sight made him twitch in horror.

She was simply completely maimed from head to toe.

Blood drop by blood drop its way out of her nose, onto the wooden floor, and she was beaten black and blue from head to toe.

He ran to her body and threw himself on his knees while covering in shock his mouth. "What did they do to you?" he whispered agitatedly. He reached his hand out to run through her tangled and stringy auburn hair.

"Victoria, it's me, Jack. I'm going to get you out of here," he whispered affably and hopefully, while he wrapped his arms around her torso, pulled her body close and hugged her dearly. He thought it was nefarious she'd been beaten up, then not to talk about the fact nobody even cared about her body, they just let it rot away here.

His under lip trembled and he blinked his tears away when she didn't react. She didn't even seem to breath. "Victoria, please wake up," he begged whispering. The side of her head rested on his collarbone, and the rest of her body hung lifelessly against his torso.

It looked as if she was a doll.

He felt so many emotions, so many distraught that he didn't even know how to express himself. He wanted to pull all the hairs out of his head, he wanted to scream, yell, make an end to the person who'd done this to her and take his vengeance.

The powerless feeling of having no influence on her life made him feel so irritated, so angry, because it made him feel like a fool.

He hugged her even tighter and began to softly cry his eyes out while the words 'Victoria' kept escaping his lips. His shoulder jolted uncontrollably, and tear after tear rolled down his cheeks. All of them disappeared in her auburn hair. Her body felt as cold as the floor he sat on and he decided to listen to her pulsation, but he was trembling so much and his own heart was beating so hard that he couldn't hear anything.

He realised he actually _did_ give a fuck about the stubborn girl and he couldn't believe he could never look into her eyes again, he could never stare at her beautiful red hair again, her pale complexion, her curvy but yet svelte posture, and simultaneously wonder if the gods if the Olympus had given life to the girl instead of two mortals.

He couldn't believe he would never speak to her again, would never see her again, would never see her walking down the street with her iPhone in her hands and her earplugs in as her cowboy bag rested on her shoulder.

And he couldn't believe he would never hear her voice again.

Never hearing her voice again, it was a weird thought. Her voice was everything but girly, high pitched and everything but what you would expect when seeing her for the first time. The rather low, gravelly, and gruff edge in the sound of Vero's voice had a certain richness and then the tone; always so matter-of-fact, yet monotonously in a hilarious way when she was telling a joke.

"I will miss you," he whispered through his tears. He supported her by her back so she hung motionlessly in his arms again with her head hanging back, and her Adam's apple protruded.

Then he grabbed his walkie-talkie and spoke with a croaked voice.

"Astrid..." he began with a sniff.

"Code 318."

* * *

**Next chapter people. **

**Next chapter. **

**It's cliffhanger time. **

**You're all going to yell 'I said it'.**

**THANK YOU FOR 300 REVIEWS. LOVE YOU. **

**Also, please let me know what you think of the story, it makes my day. I really want to get better at writing and for that I need advise. Please no flames, constructive criticism would be awesome.**

**And yes I know about Victoria's drama attitude –I'm slowly also becoming sick of it lol-. One day I want to make this a book –with changed names and shit- and I'm already making a list of things I need to change to make the story better so yeah actually you guys are reading a draft version of maybe a future book ****.**

**Anyway, here are the answers on reviews I got:**

**Madison: Thank you SO MUCH. You're one of my favourite reviewers and you always inspire and motivate me in a way you can't even imagine. About Oliver's Celtic name, I know right? Hahaha. I love Celtic and Wicca shit. Yas, my characters are detailed indeed. I hate OC's that are flat AF, not detailed and stereotype 'white bad boy'. AND YES IKR ABOUT VICTORIA'S SISTER HAHAHAHA. Any idea who could be it? Ahw thank you about the plot being amazing hahhaahah. Okay, write your full theory in the comment section, I love reading your ideas. **

**XE Captain: Yes, I just did LOL. Yes, Victoria has a sister. And yeah I know about the plot being complex. THANK YOUU.**

**Lovely: I don't even know what to say… Thank you so much for your kind and motivational words. I read the reviews fifteen times already and I just keep smiling. Please make an account on fanfiction! I would love to get in contact with you. OMG THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS STORY IS PERFECT. And you too! Have a lovely day.**


	34. Chapter XXVIIII: a new father

**Hey everyone! First off thank you for the people who reviewed. **

**I put an OC dictionary on my profile and all photos of OCs and such are on my pinterest. Just go to my profile and you'll find it. Also, this OC dictionary is like really temporary! I made it in ten minutes, and I'm going to make a good one soon. **

**Oh guys, Ralph sings a Dutch song in this chapter and talking about the Dutch hip-hop industry, here's a list of some REALLY GOOD songs! I promise. You can find everything on Spotify or youtube. Hoog/laag means -high/low- and so on. **

_**Hoog/Laag by Ronnie Flex –high/low-**_

_**Drank &amp; Drugs by Lil' Kleine –booze and drugs- THIS TRACK HAS GONE VIRAL**_

_**Famous by Frenna –famous-**_

_**Niemand by Ronnie Flex –nobody-**_

_**Niet Omdat Het Moet by Lil' Kleine -not because it has to-**_

_**High/low, 'Famous' and 'Niet Omdat Het Moet' are my favourites! I also hip-hop on these tracks.**_

**CHAPTER XXVIIII: a new father**

**SIMONE**

The talking, giggling and cosiness hung in the air of the café 'Nocturne'. It was the place she and her friends –Oliver, Lizzy, Ralph, Faye, and normally also Victoria- always gathered in the weekends to dance on the dance floor and drink up all their money.

It was a quintessential Friday evening; the lights were dimmed, people were ordering beer and cocktails at the bar, and mostly adolescents danced on the dance floor in front of the stage where Ralph and Lizzy always performed with their band their latest covers of their favourite songs.

Ralph played the guitar and sometimes sang, and Lizzy was mostly their lead singer.

Ralph was now covering this new song 'Hoog/Laag' by Ronnie Flex, a Dutch singer who mostly worked for the hip-hop and rap industry of the Benelux. Ralph used to live in the Netherlands from his tenth till his fifteenth and so he spoke it quite fluently. Still, English was his mother language since he was born in the States.

Everybody jammed along with the good music and danced on the addictive sound of the song even though they didn't understand a word of the lyrics. All of her friends were there, except for Oliver, who couldn't come because of some good mellifluous lie.

And then Victoria couldn't come because she was of course still missing.

Ralph played the last accord, and Simone applauded along with the crowd before whistling. He smiled brightly and bowed quickly before jumping off stage after putting his guitar down. She ran through the throng and hugged him when he was in reach for her.

"That was awesome!" Simone began exuberantly, as her hands rested on his shoulders.

"I know right!" He pulled her close and she smiled warmly at him. A happy, carefree feeling fluttered in her tummy when seeing him. His arm rested on her shoulder and she snuggled against the side of his chest.

"_GUYS_!" Lizzy yelled over the crowd and it sounded as if she was in panic. The Aussie tried to made her way through the crowd, to her and Ralph, as she pulled Faye with her.

Simone and Ralph looked up when they noticed Faye was crying, and Lizzy's face was filled with utter shock.

"What's happened?" Ralph furrowed his eyebrows.

Apparently Lizzy couldn't speak and the same ruled for Faye. Lizzy grabbed without a warning Ralph and Simone to pull them to the bar where a flat screen television was. Now the music had stopped they could finally hear the breaking news.

"Look," Lizzy cried in distraught.

A newsreader of the CNN news with the name Pocahontas Wild, sat behind a desk with some papers in her hand.

_"Good evening,"_ the Native American newsreader began. _"The search for the sixteen-year-old Veronique Leroux, daughter of our national ballet talent Aurelie Leroux, has officially ended after a week. The orphan ran away from home and hasn't been spotted ever since. The girl was found dead in an apartment in South Brooklyn."_

She felt her heart drop and her eyes widened in astonishment just like Ralph's.

Dead. She was found _dead_.

"_What exactly happened to the girl before her death, how she ended up there, and if she's murdered is still unclear. Pitch Black has been reported to be part of the situation, but that hasn't been confirmed yet by the police. Once the authorities have solved the case, we'll get more information."_

The rest was a blur, she didn't even listen anymore.

Time froze. People around her gasped, raised their eyebrows, but all Faye, Lizzy and Simone could do was crying their eyes out. The tears streamed down girl's cheeks, her sobs filled the air, and all Simone could do was clamp herself on her best friend Lizzy, who hugged her as the Aussie cried harrowingly with her.

She began to hyperventilate. Reality didn't want to penetrate, she just couldn't and didn't want to believe it. The brunette kept mourning while kept wailing Victoria's name. She had regret she hadn't made up their friendship.

And now it was too late.

Ralph plopped numbly on a bar chair and stared numbly, nearly emotionless at the bar underneath him. He didn't blink, he didn't move, he was frozen to the ground in his state of shock.

Then, he broke.

His shoulders began to jolt, his under lip trembled, and he sniffed before several tears escaped his eyes.

He buried his face in his hands and sobbed harrowingly his eyes out.

Poor Ralph.

She could be too late with salvaging a friendship, but Ralph was too late with confessing his love for a girl who was now found dead.

**JACK**

He didn't know how long he had sat there on the ground, while crying his eyes out about the loss of Victoria. Someone hadn't completely zipped up her black gala dress and her shoulder was exposed to show a henna tattoo she had to take from Oliver.

He recognised the heart triquetra symbol.

Close death.

It had all been a warning.

"Jack."

He looked up in shock and aghast when he heard a soft, croaky whisper escaping pale and narrow formed lips. It was as fragile as the 'A' string of a cello, as pure as the singing of a nightingale, and as sensitive as a bubble, but it was her.

Risen from the ashes like a phoenix, there she was. She was weak, but she'd made it.

Her eyelids slowly opened, but they didn't even make it halfway or they shut again.

He couldn't say anything. He covered his mouth while gasping and without a warning he hugged her and cried his eyes out in her hair. Softly, her trembling hands clamped on his body, while she rested her head on his chest. A few tears ran over the bridge of her nose.

"I-I th-thought you w-were dead, Vic-Victoria!" Jack sobbed. "Who did this to you? You're black and blue from head to toe, your arms are full with new cuts and you're covered in dried up blood."

"James," Victoria whispered and she cringed in pain. "He beat me up…and threw me against the wall.." she whispered weakly. "My ribs…my whole body hurts. And I have a headache" She lied on her side on the ground and slowly, her eyelids opened again.

The corners of his mouth dropped and he ran through her hair with his hand, before wiping some tears off her cheeks. He couldn't say anything in shock. More hid in her gaze, more had happened besides this. He could see it, but he didn't dare to ask for details.

What he did know was that it was a true horror to sit here for already four days in these inhumane conditions.

"Where's Elsa?" he asked softly.

"Hans has taken her with him to the kitchen so she can eat something. She nearly fainted out of starvation," Victoria spoke softly and she crawled up into a ball.

He heard voices and footsteps in the corridor. They came closer.

"Victoria, I wait till Oliver, James, or Hans is gone and then I'm going to get you out of here, 'kay?" Jack whispered.

She nodded softly in weakness. He tiptoed to a dark corner of the room that wasn't lit by moonlight and hid behind a broken mirror that stood on four iron legs. The door opened and Hans walked in with Elsa following him.

He felt an explosion of butterflies in his lower stomach when he saw her again after nearly a week. Her hair was tangled and stringy after she hadn't brushed it for days, she'd cried all her make-up off her face and the bags hung under her eyes but for him she still looked beautiful.

Elsa didn't say anything, neither protested and she plopped down on the ground so Hans could tie some ropes around her wrists in silence. When Hans was done with tying Elsa to the ground he turned himself to Victoria. Hans' eyes widened in concern and he lowered to the ground before running a hand through Victoria's hair but she slammed it away.

"Back off," she hissed over her shoulder.

Hans bit his under lip and did what he was asked to. "What's happened?" he asked in concern.

"I'm kidnapped, my former boyfriend broke up with me, he cut my arms, my back, he raped me and Pitch Black beat me up, that's what happened," she snapped pissed off. "Now leave me alone," she demanded hissing.

Hans' eyes widened in shock, but he did what he was asked to and he left the room. Victoria softly sniffed and she turned her back to him as she lied on her side to hide she was crying.

Jack waited till Hans' footsteps had died away in the distance and he immediately ran to Elsa and Victoria. It was clear Elsa was swallowing her scream when he loomed out of the corner of the room out of nowhere.

He shushed her. "No time for explanation; let's get the hell out of here." He freed her and it looked like the two had no time to forgive each other about their last quarrel; he'd owned her her life.

He freed Victoria as quickly as he could and he helped her up, just like Elsa. All three looked at each other and before he knew it, they hugged each other tightly for a group hug, with Victoria sandwiched between him and Elsa. They cried their eyes out and Jack kept whispering everything would become alright again.

"I missed you, Jack," Victoria whispered.

They broke apart and he spoke. "I missed you too, Vic." A confident smirk flourished across his lips as he stared at Victoria.

Then, it was replaced for a twitch and his eyes widened when a person behind him set a cold metal thing on his back. He knew it was a gun. Victoria gasped and coiled backwards in agony before clamping herself on Elsa.

A husky voice with a heavy British behind him spoke. _"Don't try to run, or you're going to encounter you're not faster than a bullet."_

James.

He turned around and stared in the eyes of his former best friend. He'd changed, they'd changed both; James looked more mature in his forties, but also more vicious when Jack noticed his gaze, which was filled with hate. The slight wrinkles hugged the criminal's former handsome face. His hair, which was as dark as his own sins, was combed backwards into the classic, oh so well known Pitch Black coupe.

His arms were quite muscular for a man like him; his flat posture and length made him look everything but beefy. He was shrouded in black, his ultimate favourite colour and in combination with his pale complexion did he look even more deterrent.

"Pitch," Jack groaned low in distaste through gnashed teeth.

"Call me James, Jack. Pitch is just my alias, you should know that by now," the sinner snickered nearly scornfully. An eyebrow cocked upwards in apparent amusement as he spoke.

The door opened and Oliver walked in, as he spoke. "Dad, somebody forced the window in my room -" He stopped speaking and he looked up, before his amber yellowish eyes darkened when noticing Jack. "Dad," he began.

James hummed in answer.

A mocking simper spread across Oliver's lips. "Is this Jack, that guy, that egocentric dick, who has betrayed you in the past?" He may be speaking to his father, but he stared straightly into Jack's eyes. Jack flashed indignantly a glare.

James snickered and put his gun away from Jack, as he approached him with a cunning simper spread across his lips. "Yes, this guy was that dick." He'd walked so close to him in the meantime that their torsos touched. Jack boldly kept standing where he stood and didn't move.

Slyly, James put his leg between his and at the last word, he lifted it to crotch Jack with his knee. Jack groaned lowly in pain while falling on his knees. He hissed in pain, dismay and anger all at the same time while clutching his manhood.

James chuckled as he whispered; "you fool." He began to walk circles around his former best friend, now enemy. James' ruthless stares began to sting, and Jack averted his eyes. James' footsteps were the only sounds that filled the air.

Jack cowered when James wanted to lash out to hit him, but the door opened and everybody looked up. Hans walked in and Jack's eyes widened in shock as well anger. "Hans! You worked all the time for James!" Jack yelled in dismay.

"No, shit Sherlock," James groaned sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

Oliver snickered, but he received a mortifying glare from his ex-girlfriend. -Not that he was bothered by it.- "Shut up Victoria," he shot cockily at her and his grin had faded.

"Do it yourself. If the police hears about all what you did to me you'll be thrown into fucking jail you know that right?" she spoke confidently in that oh so well known I-know-it-all-tone of Victoria.

"I'm minor, my love. The only thing I can get is a warning," Oliver shrugged in a sorry-not-sorry tone and he grinned widely. "And how do you want to escape out of here? How do you want to survive this? By waiting till Prince Charming Ralph Evans saves the day?" he laughed in sickening mock while his father snickered with him.

"Ralph isn't my Prince Charming," she defended herself through gritted teeth.

"Oh really? Well I wonder who's gotten between those pretty legs when I was out of sight," Oliver groaned snarky.

"I didn't spread my legs for him! I wouldn't cheat on you!"

"No, because Victoria is holy, and Victoria is the sweet innocent girl everyone needs to have pity for because Victoria is orphan, and Victoria is scarred," Oliver sang mellifluously in a high pitched tone. "Oh please go fuck yourself you bitch." Oliver rolled irritated his eyes. "I've never met such a pathetic person, yet such a drama queen like you, and please do know I'm getting sick of it."

"And I'm getting sick of you! And that's not true, I'm not drama queening!"

"Yes, you do! Literally every fucking time I'm with you, you begin about your family, your past, you cutting problem, the way you hate your foster parents, as the list continues and you _do_ have the guts to keep whining and complaining 'everyone' lets you down, but once I offer help and try to comfort you, you slam the door in my face and tell me boldly 'you're strong' and don't need help, like what the fuck girl, what do you want?!" he yelled at her.

"You need to stop thinking you're a Disney princess that'll get saved by some Prince Charming, because no one in this life, in this world is going to save you. You need to do it on your own and need to stop waiting and start doing something," he continued.

"Very well spoken, Oliver," James spoke thoughtfully in approval. Oliver walked closer to his dad to stand on his left side before he crossed his arms. Hans did the same and within seconds he also stood next to the criminal. Jack wondered whom of the three he wanted to shoot first, but it was a hard decision because in his eyes all of them deserved a bullet for their perfectly disgusting heads.

"I think it's nefarious how you involve Victoria, who has never done anything to anyone of you, in this situation! She is part of a plan she couldn't even choose to be in, don't you all see she doesn't deserve this?!" Jack protested and he turned himself to the weak redhead who lied on the ground. He wanted to extend his hand to help her with getting up, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw in the corner of his eye how Oliver grabbed in a reflex the gun of his father. He walked forward and loaded it.

Jack had no time to grab his gun as well, so he was good as defenceless. He stared in the hole of the gun where a bullet was waiting to take someone's life. Then, his gaze moved to Oliver's eyes, and he startled when seeing how intensely they darkened.

He was a sickening copy of his dad.

Jack raised his hands in a surrendering way, when Oliver came closer and closer. His gaze seemed so thorough and determined, and one corner of his lips gave a slight twitch. "I'll kill him off for you, dad," Oliver hissed determinedly through gnashed teeth. Jack walked backwards until his back reached the wall and Oliver still came closer, till the hole of the Beretta 92 was pressed against his chest.

He heard how Victoria softly sniffed. He knew her hoplophobia didn't help in the situation after she and her mother faced a gun eleven years ago. "O-Oliver, d-don't," she pleaded. "I beg you."

Oliver stared tenaciously at Jack with an unwritten face. His finger still rested on the trigger. "I'll d-do ev-everything for y-you!" Victoria's eyes were filled with tears. "Everything! I'll do what you want, I'll love you, -"

"It's too late for that, Victoria. I don't need your love. I've never needed it, never wanted it. Huh, you should see yourself… a girl who thinks a happily ever after exists. What a bullshit. Just move on a live with the fucked live you've gotten to deal with," he shot at her with a devious grin. It was like he wanted to hurt her, like he was out to make her cry. "You see, that's where we're different from each other; you're the Disney princess who believes in hope and a 'some day', I'm your stereotype Disney villain who likes it to troll people with 'no reason'. I'm your Hans from frozen, you're the naïve cute little Anna, I'm the sociopath people say I am, but hey I don't kill your sister, 'cause now I'll bring you out of the fairytales; it was your fucking father's fault your mother and sister are dead -"

Her heart dropped, her eyes widened and her world was turned upside down when she heard his words.

"I HAD A SISTER?!" Victoria yelled and exclaimed in shock. She had a sister! And it must be a little one, maybe even a baby…

Then she finally understood why she used to talk to her mother's tummy when she was young; there'd been a baby in it!

How was she so stupid to not realise it?! It was so simple, so obvious!

Oliver resumed undisturbed; "you're in this situation because of him, not me! -"

She cut him off. "This was actually not the conversation subject I wanted to broach, but okay -"

Oliver just talked dominantly further as he raised his voice to overpower her talking. "Well sorry I didn't sing 'Love Is An Open Door' for you, because I would've done it with_ all my love _for_ my phoenix_, but one; I don't sing and two; this isn't a silly love story. Welcome to the real world where parents divorce, where death exists, where mothers leave their child to erase the mistake that's been born out of a one-night stand, and where boyfriends turn out to cheat on you, and that you discover they never loved you."

Victoria turned pale as snow when she heard his words. The way in which he talked gave her shivers, tears in her eyes, and it made her cringe. "And oh Victoria, what you've seen of the world yet was just a small introduction of all the bad it can bear, so if I were you I would stop watching Disney movies, stop waiting for your Prince to fall on his knees for you, and start realising what's important in life."

"And that is?" Victoria was somehow scared for his answer, since Oliver was known to tell you the brutal facts and the painful truth.

Oliver, closed his eyes and sighed softly. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. He opened his eyes again, filled with emotion, yet with sickening mock. "Live in the present and not in the past, 'cause that's the only reason why I didn't end up like a weak boy."

She could only stare at him in her shock. Somehow, there hid pain in his voice, neglect and she'd wished she could see this Oliver more.

Jack's eyes darted from person to person, and without a warning he took his chance by grabbing in a reflex the shotgun out of Oliver's hands when he still had his head turned to Victoria. Oliver turned roughly in futility his head to Jack when he noticed what he did. Jack pushed the seventeen-year-old aside and walked to James. He put the gun on the side of his former best friend's head.

"Kneel down to the fucking floor, to the bottom where you fucking belong," Jack hissed in James' ear.

James rolled unimpressed with his eyes, but knelt on the floor while Jack held the loaded gun to the side of his head. Victoria didn't understand why James didn't fight back. He didn't seem to be a man who'd give up quickly. "You know what the big difference is between me and you, James?" Jack scowled, while he glared down at the ruthless criminal.

"Tell me." A devious smile flourished across the sinner's lips, as he stared forward.

"I learn from my mistakes, and you don't. Yes, I was dick to you and I let you down, but I have changed -"

"Oh really?" James scoffed. "Well now, fifteen years later you're still too proud to say I've saved your life, and that because of me you're an agent for the ISA. Because of me you didn't end up into jail, because of me you're standing here as Prince Charming, as the hero who's going to save the day, and you don't even have the decency to thank me for that."

Victoria wondered what 'the ISA' was, but she knew it was not the time to ask.

"Give me one reason why I should thank a guy who wants to shoot me," Jack snorted in resentment.

"Just like you don't want to do that with me now. I dare you, Jackson Overland Frost; shoot me, pull the trigger, be the cool sturdy guy, be the hero, be a man, save the day as always. Show Elsa what kind of a dick you can be by shooting me to get your precious promotion." James knew he was right, and you could see it in the way one corner of his lips twitched upwards.

Jack narrowed slowly his eyes till they were nothing more but slits.

"So amusing how silent our heroine is now," James sighed lightly, still grinning. "Hey, I can live with the blood on my hands of hundreds of people. But can you? You're about to shoot the former buddy who has saved your life after all…"

"I see how much gratitude humanity shows nowadays." James added laconically with a sigh when Jack still remained silent. It was clear taciturnity had struck him.

James' and Jack's eyes met. James' gaze was so intense, so thorough that Victoria quickly averted her eyes when his gaze shifted to her for a second. His amber yellowish eyes left nothing of her and her confidence. James moved his eyes back to Jack in pending for an answer.

If he had one.

Jack inhaled sharply in dismay. "A life for a life," he spoke belatedly, and he pulled the gun away from James' head, before taking a step back.

James raised and smiled in full charm at Jack. "I'd like to have my gun back." Jack stared suspiciously at him, but James already spoke. "Oh come on buddy, a life for a life, right? I won't shoot you…"After a few seconds of no movement and a silence, did Jack give him his gun back with a sigh.

Then, tides turned and James added a last word to his sentence to give the atmosphere a certain grim twist.

"Yet."

The conniving, extortionate grin on his face made Victoria shiver in abomination. Jack's eyes widened, Eloise gasped and even Hans looked up in shock when realising James was again playing games with everything and everyone.

"But first off, before I make an end to you; Hans, grab Elsa and bring her to the middle of the room, so I can make short shrift with the first of today." Jack wanted to stop James, but he immediately moved his gun at Jack. "Make one more move and the last thing you'll remember is how a bullet penetrated your heart," the criminal warned him.

Victoria's mouth dropped in dismay when Hans actually did what James asked him to do. She couldn't believe someone could disappoint her so badly, and she still didn't see anyway why he was here, and why he teamed up with Pitch Black, one of the most wanted criminals of the UK and the USA.

Victoria had never glared so mortifyingly at someone. The hate burned in her eyes like the hellfire did in her soul.

"Oliver, release Veronique -"

"_Victoria_." Victoria corrected him with a sigh.

"Veronique," James ignored her, "and hold her, please. Those ropes around her wrists have cut long enough into her wrists." His tone seemed nearly to be filled with sympathy, a thing from which she didn't know he could show. His eyes glided not amusedly over her being from head to toe, before not giving her attention anymore.

"Hans, keep Jack under shot," James ordered. And once more, he listened…

Oliver followed the orders of his father and approached her. She cowered in fear. She didn't want him to touch her, she didn't want him to be in her presence, she didn't even want him to look at her. She wanted to disappear.

He revealed that knife of him with that pentagram on the blade to cut the ropes through with one smooth movement. It was the same dagger where he cut her with in her inner arms and back yesterday. Oliver pulled her up. She felt her legs trembled, so weak were they. Everything hurt; her ribs, her back, her head, and her arms, which were filled with cuts, stung. Oliver put her arms roughly on her back and she wailed in pain.

"Still waiting for that apology, sweetie," Oliver hissed bittersweet in her ear.

"I'm not going to apologise for something I haven't done -" Victoria cried in pain when Oliver moved her arms even higher behind her back.

"Sorry! Now let go of me," she groaned through gritted teeth.

"In the UK we always say 'please' if we ask something," Oliver hissed ruthlessly in her ear, as he pulled her body closer to him. "Well?" he spoke while poking her, when she remained silent.

"Please," she whispered through gritted teeth, and she closed her eyes firmly. She couldn't believe she actually obeyed.

"I don't hear it," he sang whispering in her ear, and she began to boil from the inside out of anger. He was playing games with her, and he knew she hated it.

She noticed James stared at Oliver and her and he spoke thoughtfully. "You know Oliver, I've been thinking lately and how about adopting Victoria?" Victoria's heart dropped. "You'll get a sister!"

"No thank you, I can handle myself," Oliver groaned not amused, while he pushed her arms even higher up her back and she wailed and cried in pain. "Thereby, I'm not a babysitter," he chuckled scornfully. Victoria's mouth dropped in dismay.

" 'Victoria Black', sounds actually better and better." James sang and Victoria's, Elsa's, Jack's, and Hans' eyes all widened when they realised James actually meant it. Only Oliver showed lack of emotion, as always.

She turned her head in Oliver's direction, who glared at her. It was clear he wasn't quivering she would become his sister.

"Dad, seriously why Victoria?! I don't need her as my girlfriend, let alone as my fucking sister?!" Oliver bemoaned. "This is fucked."

"Indeed! And I thought you had no time to 'play daddy'?" Victoria cocked resolutely her eyebrow upwards at the criminal. For the first time in months Oliver and her thought the same about something.

"My love, you're sixteen; old and wise enough to take care of yourself. Thereby, you're not alone! Oliver's with you," James shrugged.

"But –"

"Shut up, _sis_," Oliver hissed bittersweet.

"Thank you," James spoke in gratitude that he silenced her.

"I mean it dad, does this thing have a 'power off' button?! Victoria is like a baby born doll that keeps crying," Oliver bemoaned.

"Oh we'll teach her some manners once she's in the family." James' smirk made her cringe in fear. He raised his gun and was ready to shoot Elsa.

His talk disappeared in the background when Oliver pulled her backwards, more away from his father. He turned her one hundred and eighty degrees so she faced him. He still held her by her wrists and looked incisively in her eyes, and he whispered lowly. "Look at the insides of your arms, look at the cuts I've made, and tell me what you read," he whispered nearly inaudibly, and if sounded as if he didn't want anyone but her to hear it. His eyes were filled with a certain shimmer she couldn't place. Three seconds ago he insulted her and now he was into helping her, a thing she couldn't understand.

Slowly, did her eyes move to her scarred arms Oliver held. She translated the cuts into letters, decoded what they wanted to tell her, and when she read two certain words her eyes widened and her heart dropped before it began to pound as hard as a bass after a beat drop.

Her eyes met Oliver's once more. She was locked to them, and she was sure he was casting a spell over her, her mind, her thoughts, and the time. It seemed to freeze.

They kept staring, and she kept silently asking for answers. Why these two words? What did he mean with them?

She noticed in the corner of her eye James had turned his head to Oliver and her in the meantime, and a silence lingered in the air. When Oliver and her broke eye contact, they both turned their heads to James, who raised in suspicion an eyebrow upwards. "Oliver…," he began lowly, "What did you do?"

Oliver's lips didn't part, and he averted his gaze.

"Oliver what?!" James hissed impatiently, as he made his way to Oliver and her. "Tell me, what did you cut into her arm?!"

He reached out for Victoria to grab her wrist and see what'd been cut into it, but Oliver performed a move she could never think of.

Victoria was determined to put a step back, to be safely removed from Oliver and his cunning tricks, but he already placed his hands on her cheeks as he stared deeply in her eyes. She began to tremble while her widened eyes moved rapidly from left to right when he bended and pressed firmly his lips against hers.

She cried, she trembled, she fought, she put her hand on his to jerk it away, but his lips were determined to stay on hers.

She forgot to breath in the panic that engulfed her and she had to sharply inhale through her nose to get some air. She didn't understand where this came from, why he needed to kiss her after all what'd happened between them. After all, if she had to believe James, he would become her half-brother. His lips on hers felt suddenly so unnatural, so wrong.

They broke apart and he jerked her away from him, so tripped two to three steps backwards. Victoria panted breathlessly for air and stared in astonishment and incomprehension at him. When she realised what'd happened she flashed a mortifying glare at him, and her eyes began to spit fire, while she clenched her fists.

She narrowed her eyes till they were little slits, and she instantly lashed out to slap that son of bitch for his fucking face. His head moved in momentum to the side and he nearly lost his balance, so hard did she hit him. He didn't move his head backwards and moved slowly a hand to the place where'd hit him. She was trembling; she'd never slapped a person and somehow it felt good.

"You keep your damn hands off me, _brother_," she hissed in fury.

How dare he cut her arms and carve words in them that made her question if he was truly this bad, how dare he carve a symbol in her back, how dare he kiss her, rape her, and use her as a thing and not a person.

Oliver groaned lowly in pain and turned his head back to her, his eyes narrowed till they were little slits. "Later you will thank me for this, you bitch."

And with these words he turned around and backed off.

Once Oliver had taken his distance from her, she noticed James, who obnoxiously stared at her, now his eyes glided over her being from top to bottom. He made his way to her and before she could take a step backwards he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. "Tell me, what's cut into the inside of your arms," he whispered in her ear. She didn't answer him and stared forward with a frozen gaze. "I warn you, Veronique; I only ask things nice once."

"Let me go," she ordered. "And no, that's not your business," she ended stubbornly.

He turned determinedly without a warning both of her wrists so her inner arms were shown and he stared at her cuts. One of his fingers trailed down her cuts, before his eyes narrowed till were within seconds nothing more but little slits after reading what Oliver had carved into her body.

He turned his head over his shoulder and hissed at his son he would regret the day he was born when he was done with him. He turned his head back to Victoria and his fierce gaze softened.

"Now she joins our family, let's meet her rule number one;" James simpered cunningly.

"Dad, what's your plan?" Oliver demanded in incomprehension. It looked as if he was as apprehensive as Hans, Elsa and Jack for what was going to happen. "You're not going to -" Oliver cut off his own speaking and began over-new. "Dad, don't do the same with her as what you did with me," he groaned nearly wolf-like and he wanted to approach James to stop him, but his dad groaned through gritted teeth he had to back off.

And that coward of an Oliver _listened_.

"You pussy," she snapped at him with narrowed eyes. She saw in the corner of her eye James lashed out to hit her, now she was at her weakest and the most unprepared for a surprise attack like this.

Victoria's eyes widened in shock, turned her head away from him, and she moved her hands in front of her face to defend herself, while she cowered in fear, scared for the pain he would cause. This time he slapped her so hard that she was under the impression her jaw was nothing more but broken. She covered the side of her face with her hand and began to sob harrowingly as she sank down to the floor. "When we ask something, we say 'please'," James ended groaning as he walked a circle around her, with his hands folded on his back. He glared down at her and she'd never felt so small, so defenceless.

The pain pounded, stung, made her feel dizzy, and it was able to make her cringe as if someone scratched with his nails over a blackboard.

The girl stared through her blurred sight at her ex, who stared in shock at her all his father did to her. Did she just see compassion in his eyes?

She finally seemed to realise from whom he'd gotten that one centimetre scar from above his eyebrow.

She crawled backwards over the ground in agony when James came closer again. Her heart beat so hard in her chest that it hurt. "And rule number two;" she buried her face in her hands to make sure he couldn't hurt her cheek or jaw again, but this time he didn't slap her, no; she felt how his hand grabbed her by her long hair to jerk her upwards.

He just grabbed her by her fucking hair, her fucking beautiful long red hair she was so proud of. Deep down she was boiling on the inside of anger, but she didn't dare to show resistance against him.

Him, her future father.

A sparkle of anger, envy, yet pain burned in his eyes, she could see it.

She'd never been so scared for the world, for a person. She thought he was going to hit her, so she closed her eyes and prepared herself for a hit on her face, but this time the pain erupted in her stomach like fireworks exploding in a night sky.

She collapsed with a low groan in pain on the ground, while instantly clutching her stomach with her arms, before she crawled up into a ball. The tears kept streaming down her cheeks. The useless, stupid, meaningless tears. The girl was panting for air and she nearly threw up. "we know when to keep ourselves silent. Who doesn't want to hear will feel," he added.

Victoria could only cry, yell, wail, and hiss in her pain. She was scared her ribs were bruised, so much did they hurt now she was gasping for air. Pleads for salvation, deliverance, escaped her lips. She begged him to make an end to it, to her. Her spirit wasn't weak, it was her body and she hated it. She felt trapped, because her mental was stronger than her physical.

James bent forward and hissed ominously in her ear. "You know what I hate about phoenixes like you?"

She ignored him, simply because she didn't dare to answer. "They always _rise_," James ended.

She saw in the corner of his eye he revealed that pentagram knife of Oliver to stab her.

She firmly closed her eyes, crawled up into a ball like a hedgehog and she was convinced the last thing she would feel was how the knife impaled her heart, but nothing happened and she looked up.

Hans had run forward to throw himself on the ground, between James and her to serve as her shield while he extended his hand to stop the criminal from hurting her. He hugged the sobbing and broken Victoria, before kissing her on the side of her head.

Victoria buried her face in his chest, feeling how everything was dizzy, how everything hurt. James narrowed in futility his eyes at Hans, but the redhead wasn't afraid of him, not anymore; his eyes were spitting fire.

And then, he yelled protectively the words that turned her world upside down;

"You keep your hands off my daughter!"

* * *

**In the official version I'm going to try to make this less obvious… but still I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. **

**About 'Victoria Black', there's a story behind this and James has a very good reason for thinking of this. **

**If you wonder why Victoria gets always all attention and gets beaten and such then that's because she simply asks for it. She's always contradicting everything and everyone and James is just determined to slap it out of her because he's slowly becoming sick of her drama attitude.**

**Also! What do you think Oliver has cut in Victoria's arms and in her back? Remember three chapters ago where he cut the hell out of her? –Chapter Bad Blood part II- After you've read the chapter, if you want to get an idea how it looked or sounded, search for 'Harry Potter Hermoine torture scene'. And no, the word Oliver carved in Victoria isn't 'mudblood' LOL.**

**What will James do, Victoria, now Hans said this? **

**Also, please tell me what you thought of the songs;**

_**Hoog/Laag by Ronnie Flex –high/low-**_

_**Drank &amp; Drugs by Lil' Kleine –booze and drugs- THIS TRACK HAS GONE VIRAL**_

_**Famous by Frenna –famous-**_

_**Niemand by Ronnie Flex –nobody-**_

_**Niet Omdat Het Moet by Lil' Kleine -not because it has to-**_


	35. Chapter XXX: Nike

**Hey all my beautiful readers! Here's a new chapter... And I'm so excited for your reaction and such. **

**About the song, you can read everything in all your chill, because it's quite slow. **

**Also, when the whole 'eleven years ago' is mentioned, it has to do with the shooting of course!**

**Also, we stopped at the part where Hans yelled "keep your hands off my daughter!" **

* * *

**CHAPTER XXX: Nike**

**VICTORIA**

**(A/N) song: Flicker (rework) by Lorde and Kanye West. This song was actually made for the movie 'the Hunger Games Mockingjay Part I'.**

_(intro)_

The consecutive silence that lingered in the air after Hans' words seemed to never end. It engulfed everyone like a tsunami that hit shore. His words had struck her like lightning, straight in the heart. Hers dropped dramatically and it may feel as if time froze, but feelings burned.

_I'm a princess cut from marble, smoother than a storm._

_And the scars that mark my body, they're silver and gold,_

Victoria's chest moved rapidly up and down, her eyes grew wide till they were the sauce of saucers as they glided up and down his being, and she could only breath through her mouth, so much oxygen did she need to make sure she wouldn't faint right at the spot.

_My blood is a flood of rubies, precious stones,_

_It keeps my veins hot, the fire's found a home in me._

Incisive gazes were exchanged with everyone in the room except for Hans, who either didn't want or didn't dare to face her. Jack and Eloise's eyes kept moving from Hans to her, back and forth like a swing that swung in the wind. Oliver, on the other hand, lifted amusedly an eyebrow and it was clear he swallowed his whistle. Slowly did James' eyes narrow meticulously in the crease, as his lips pursed in something she would almost call disapproval.

_I move through town, I'm quiet like a fight,_

_And my necklace is of rope, I tie it and untie._

She wanted somebody to say something, because the silence began to scare her. Finally, she realised the battle was over after eleven years, the searching, the questioning. Hans was her father.

All the time she'd hoped her dad would be close, but this close scared her more than anything.

Victoria was still crawled up into a ball, as she firmly covered her ears with her hands, apprehensive for which words would come her way.

_And now people talk to me, but nothing ever hits home_

_People talk to me, and all the voices just burn holes._

_I'm done with it _

Hans still stood between James and her to serve as her barrier. If the sinner wanted to take his vengeance on Victoria, he had to pass Hans, who still stared incisively in James' eyes. His arm was outstretched and his hand was still silently warning James he had to keep his distance from her.

Her, his daughter.

_This is the start of how it all ends_

_They used to shout my name, now they whisper it_

Her emotions could not be controlled, her mind went crazy, the colour drained away from her already pale face, and her heart had never raced so hard in her chest. She finally removed her hands from her ears and looked up, to boldly face Hans. She stared straightly in his emerald green eyes.

_I'm speeding up and this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart_

She firmly closed her eyes and tried to remember her dad, his face, his posture, his smile, his laugh, but most of all his eyes. She opened hers and when she met Hans' she twitched slightly in disappointment.

Her father's eyes were indeed green, but they used to sparkle in happiness. Hans' wore a shimmer of

sorrow, grief and despair.

_We're at the start, the colours disappear_

_I never watch the stars, there's so much down here_

_So I just try to keep up with the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart_

Her eyes darted to James, whose corners of his lips curled into a vile, abominating grimace that made her cringe. Maybe Hans was even more deceitful and contrived than him with all the secrets he held from her till now. He knew how desperate she was for a loving family and all the time he just played ignorant, all the time he just played the innocent, oblivious guy. All the time he'd been acting, but what do you expect when her life was already one big sickening puppet-show?

_I dream all year, but they're not the sweet kinds_

_And the shivers move down my shoulder blades in double time_

"I knew you would be such a fool to break your promise one day," James growled lowly. His eyes were narrowed till they were nothing more but slits in resentment. Victoria wanted to know what promise, but the fear of getting hit again made her swallow her question.

_And now people talk to me, I'm slipping out of reach now_

_People talk to me, and all their faces blur_

_But I got my fingers laced together and I made a little prison_

_And I'm locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me_

_I'm done with it _

Victoria parted her lips to speak, but all that escaped them were unintelligible stammers. Her gaze darted at everything in the room, but except for the guy who claimed to be her dad. She tried to raise, but her legs looked to be made out of nothing more of a trembling bundle of jelly. She wanted to escape, wake up out of this weird dream that lasted for over a week now, but she couldn't.

She wanted to disappear, and if she would've had wings, she wanted to fly away, freely like a bird did. But she was trapped, she had to survive this and battle.

_This is the start of how it all ends_

_They used to shout my name, now they whisper it_

_I'm speeding up and this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart_

Finally did Hans face her and she stared in his eyes.

It felt as if someone grabbed her by her arm to throw her off a cliff, into the depth of the air. The wind would gush past her body as she would scream on the top of her lungs, and her tummy would make countless of twists and turns because of all the G-forces. She would race to the bottom of darkness between the two steep cliffs, ready to smash on ground.

_We're at the start, the colours disappear_

_I never watch the stars, there's so much down here_

_So I just try to keep up with the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart_

"You're not my father," Victoria denied determinedly. She'd groaned it so lowly that she felt as if she was a wolf, lifting its upper lip to show its teeth in warning.

She saw in the corner of her eye a devious grimace flourished across Oliver's lips. "Nawh, how sad, Hans; our stubborn girl doesn't believe you," his tongue flicked playfully over his under lip. "What to do?" he sang, and his eyes met hers.

He winked coldly at her.

Victoria felt her blood boiling like geyser, ready to spray its steam and water high up in the heavens.

_And this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart_

She hissed at Hans. "You…You traitor! How dare you even to call yourself my father! My father isn't such a coward like you to come back in my life again like this after eleven years! What are you for a snake to first sneakily become best friends with me -"

"What did you expect, Vero, that I would neglect you like everyone else already did?" The tears had emerged in his eyes.

_And this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat_

He took a few steps forward to approach her, hug her, comfort her, but she crawled backwards over the floor to take her distance from him. She was convinced he was nothing more but a monster, a villain. If what he said was true also meant he put the house on fire with her in it, and that also meant he left her to die in the flames.

The flames where her inner phoenix had been born in.

_(end)_

"You can't be my father! You were engaged with some Lilly and my mother's name is Aurelie!" she sputtered.

"Aurelie's nickname was 'Lilly'." Hans bit his under lip and when he spoke the last word his eyes met hers.

"Your daughter's eyes were blue," she protested. She remembered the photo of Nike he'd once showed her.

"All kids are born with blue eyes, Victoria. After three months the colour of your eyes has gradually changed into the eventual colour."

"Aurelie was the fiancée of your best friend," she groaned.

"That was a lie," he confessed.

"Your daughter's name was Nike, not Victoria, neither Veronique!" She kept protesting and denying, but she couldn't help it.

"Nike is your Greek name." Victoria pulled a 'what the hell' face in incomprehension when she heard it. Hans clarified; "remember I once told you the Romans took the culture of the Ancient Greeks over?" She nodded. "Once they did, everything stayed the same, only the names of the gods and goddesses changed to give them their Roman equivalent name. Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite became Venus, Hera became Juno, Nyx became Nox and Eos became Aurora for example."

Victoria was fighting against her tears while her drooping shoulders jolted. He continued. "And then Nike's name changed."

"Into what?" Deep down she already knew the answer.

"Victoria."

Victoria kept sobbing while wailing, "I-I can't believe you, it feels so unreal to me -"

Hans turned himself to her and wanted to approach her, but she had no idea what to think, what to do, so she crawled standoffishly backwards, into the darkness behind her. It was where the moonlight couldn't shine, it was where she could hide.

"Please Victoria, trust me. I'm Danish, your dad was too, I'm bipolar, he was too, I mean what do I have to say to make you believe _I_ was that father who put the house on fire, who 'left you to die', who gave you the idea nobody loved you even though you don't even know the truth; I love you more than anything or anyone else in the world. Just take it from me, it was never intended to get involved in this situation, and I have a very good reason why I did what I did in the past."

She didn't know what to answer, so many emotions did she feel and so many expressions did she want to pull. "You are my everything, my proud and I love you, and I always will," he promised as he slowly and tentatively approached her once more. This time, she didn't crawl backwards but stayed where she was.

He lowered to the ground to kneel next to her, as he stretched out his hand so she could take it.

"I'm not the monster you think I am." His voice was soft, and his eyes were cast down. She noticed a tear ran down his cheek.

She didn't know if she should take his hand, be happy and cry her eyes in daddy's chest, or if she should reject him and keep acting dramatic, keep crying and keep being stubborn. But she could of course also yell at him he was a dick. There were a thousand ways to react, but no words escaped her lips, no sound.

Even her body language was as silent as a fight now.

She searched under his mental wall for her dad, her strong super dad who always used to sing her asleep when she was scared of the thunder that howled outside, who used to built sandcastles with her on the beach, who always made lasagna with her when she was young, and who could make her calm again when she had a manic episode. She searched for her strong super dad, which could conquer the world with his charming smile and talent for charisma.

She searched for her strong super dad, who suddenly wasn't that strong anymore.

Her pale, trembling hand was put in her father's. Victoria shifted over the floor towards him. She felt exhausted and burnt out after realising her battle had finally come to an end.

She had her father back and a feeling of happiness, yet ecstasy filled her. He'd come back to her, because he loved her.

Victoria hugged him and began to softly sniff in his chest, while her shoulders jolted. She was sure she was safe now, and that he would protect her from all the bad, all the evil in this world. His arms felt warm, quite muscular and they just gave her the perfect amount of warmth and calmth.

She buried herself all the way in his arms, as her nails dug in his back, so tightly did she want to hold him. He ran through her hair, and pulled her closely. He kept kissing the crown of her head while the whispered words 'Nike, I love you' escaped his lips.

"Nahw, how cute; father and daughter reunited after eleven years," Oliver sang deviously. Then, his smirk faded and he hissed with narrowed eyes, as he stared straightly in her eyes. "Dad, kill them off."

James raised his hand to silence his son, while he turned his back to him. "I remember the day as yesterday when your daddy told me he found his own bloody daughter back after eleven years. Because how come? She was the new adoption child of the people he worked for."

Hans cast his eyes down, but Victoria listened attentively.

"But because of a promise he'd made with me eleven years ago he wasn't allowed to tell you he's your father," James ended, and a small but still deterrent smile grimace flourished across his lips.

"Why would Hans need your permission to tell me he's my dad?! It's not like you're his boss," Victoria spoke nearly matter-of-factly with a cock of her eyebrow.

"Oh you'll be surprised when you hear the truth, or how I always call it 'Eos'," Oliver spoke for his dad.

"Could you for once stop using the fucking words 'Nyx' and 'Eos'?" she snapped bitchily at him. "The same rules for that quote."

"What? You mean 'my sin may be as dark as the Nyx, but my truth is bright as Eos?' " Oliver chuckled.

''Yeah. What does it even mean?!''

''Nyx is goddess of night in the Greek mythology. Nyx is in this quote compared to your sins, your dark side. Literally translated I'm basically saying your sins are dark as the night, but then you have Eos, goddess of dawn. She is truth, good, your side that has this 'golden edge. So your sins may be as dark as the night, but your truth is bright as dawn."

He continued; "moral of the story; there are motives why people do what they do, I have motives why I do what I do, my father has motives why he does what he does. The same rules for your father. Our truth, our motives are a way to cover our sins up, like putting a house on fire, shooting someone, or taking XTC. As long as are motives are stronger than our sins you can't define me as a sinner, because I'm not."

"I'm not some brain-dead villain, I'm still a person, I still have a heart,'' Oliver defended himself.

Victoria's lips pursed in deliberation. She began to realise she wouldn't achieve anything if she would contradict him.

"I know I'm a sinner in your eyes, a criminal," James began after Oliver's words, "and maybe I am, but people do consider me as trustworthy, as someone who'd never break promises. Ask your daddy, Victoria; he knows everything of it…" James shrugged. Hans gritted teeth. "I always keep myself to my promises. I can murder you, I can torture you, I can play games with you, but I will never break my promise, even when the opposite party _does_ do that."

The words 'leave me out of this' escaped Hans' lips.

"Your father promised to me to silence from you he's your dad, and he didn't. Oh well, a bullet for your and his head must do it," James shrugged. And then he added heartedly with a cunning grimace, "like the consequence was if he wouldn't shut his mouth…"

Victoria looked up and her eyes widened in agony. She didn't want to end by a bullet. She faced Hans and when their eyes met she tried to find the words 'we'll be alright' in his eyes, but there was nothing.

Not even a sparkle of hope.

Hans glared at James through narrowed eyes, while his arms were still protectively wrapped around his daughter.

He approached the Victoria and Hans, who both cowered in fear.

"If you, Hans, weren't such a fool to betray me by telling North about my hiding place, Aurelie would've lived now, the same rules for the baby. You're the murderer of your own child and future wife, Hans. What would you daughter think of you?" James asked deviously, while he glared down at Victoria, as he made his way to her.

Hans warned the criminal he had to keep his hands off Victoria, but James ignored his demands. He grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her out of Hans' arms. He jerked her up as his grip tightened and tightened. She tried to make a way out of his greedy hands by putting her nails in his arms to run back to her dad. He hissed through gritted teeth in pain and as soon as his grip loosened she escaped. But she hadn't even run two steps when James instantly grabbed her again. He jerked her back so she collapsed into his torso.

He put his arm tightly around her, pressed her body against his and at last he revealed his gun, so history could repeat itself after eleven years; he put it to the side of her head.

"You shoot Elsa, or it's your daughter, Hans. You've broken your promise, well this is the price you pay."

Hans' eyes widened in shock. Victoria begged him to not shoot anyone, but her father ignored her. His gaze darted slowly from Elsa to her. Then, he cast his eyes down and they slightly moved from left to right.

It was clear the man was lost in morality.

"Or you help me and kill a person you don't have a bond with, or you shoot your own daughter down. The choice is up to you," James added with an apathetic shrug.

**HANS**

In an attempt to calm himself down he inhaled deeply with shut eyes. He just wanted to be good, he just wanted no one to suffer, neither to get harmed.

He couldn't face anyone; it hurt too much. All the time he'd acted as if he hated Elsa, but he didn't. She had the courage and balls he missed, she was a true hero, he wasn't, neither the super dad Victoria thought he was.

She didn't deserve to die, but he had no choice.

He didn't want to face the fact he had the lives of people in his hands. He was fate now; he would choose future and make history.

And then there was no way back.

He just wanted Aurelie to be here; she always knew what to do, how to calm him down. But she wasn't here.

She was as lost as his morals.

After making his decision he opened with a heavy heart his eyes. He walked over to James to grab the gun out of his hands and shoot the chosen person down. Victoria's eyes widened in shock and she stammered breathlessly 'no, please no!', when he walked past her, to the sinner.

He held the firearm in his hands and stared down at it. He realised he had the ability of killing every single person in the room. But if he'd shoot James, Oliver would shoot him, and reversed ways; if he would shoot Oliver James would shoot him. But he would never shoot Oliver. He didn't deserve death.

He deserved suffer.

He sighed softly, and loaded the Semi-Automat with bullets and conscience. He knew what to do, who to shoot, to end whose life.

He stood in the middle of the room, with Victoria on his right and Elsa on his left. Both women hadn't done anything wrong, both women deserved to live longer, and in his opinion both women were special in every way a person could be special.

Oliver, who held Jack, and James stood in front of him. James spoke. "Do your thing."

Hans closed his eyes for a second, but then lifted the gun in the direction of the person he'd chosen to aim at.

Victoria.

Everything in her body began to jolt, she trembled, began to cry harrowingly and he could see the despair, the distraught in her beautiful green eyes. She knew this would be her end.

Maybe it was for the best. He could begin over-new; get a new wife, get a new fiancée, new kids, a whole new life. Victoria would always remind him of that shooting, Victoria would always remind him of Aurelie, but Victoria would always remind him she was conceived out of the love of Lilly and him.

And because of that he couldn't let her die.

In one swift moment his arm moved to the other side of the room to aim to the gun at Elsa. Victoria sighed in relief and she sank to the floor, before she buried her face in her hands.

He moved apprehensively himself to Elsa, the woman who had to be his colleague, a good friend of him if fate hadn't played with his life eleven years ago.

He met Elsa's deep blue eyes, which were filled with tears and agony, even though her chin was still lifted in dignity, a thing that agitated him. First, she stared intensely in his eyes, but then her gaze moved to the hole of the gun. Her breathings were ragged, and a tear ran down her cheek.

It hurt him to see her like this.

He laid his finger on the trigger, as the gun was aimed at her heart. He was ready to take her life.

Her inhaled deeply and made an attempt to pull the trigger, but something stopped him from doing it. It was the same as when you had to jump off something really high, but stopped at 'one' after counting down from three.

Elsa silently begged him to stop, to not shoot her, but Hans ignored her and averted his head from her. "I'm sorry, Elsa," he began softly. Then he continued, determinedly, "but I can't let my daughter die."

And with these words he laid once more his finger on the trigger. He saw in the corner of his eye that Jack made his way out of Oliver's grip to run as fast as he could towards him and Elsa, ready to sacrifice himself.

Hans knew he had to shoot Victoria from James if he wouldn't kill Elsa right now. He firmly closed his eyes, waited one more second and then did the thing he regretted most.

He pulled the trigger.

Shock filled his mind when he noticed Jack tried to block the bullet's way to Elsa's heart, now he'd jumped between the deathly weapon and Elsa.

But nobody knew if it was too late, nobody knew if he could save her.

Nobody knew whose heart the bullet would penetrate this time.

* * *

**Kind of a cliffy, isn't it? Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of the 'suspense' if there was any. I'd love to hear from you guys.**

**My answers to your reviews:**

**Madison: haahah I'm glad you were excited. Nah, mad is a big word. I don't think James tried to do that. It was more the fact he had such distaste for Victoria that he wanted to make an end to her I guess, and that Hans couldn't face the violence that was used against her anymore. Haha moodswings, well you're close to the thing Oliver is suffering from. I tried to find the story 'Next Level Player' but I don't know by which author it's written. **

**AnthroDragon; HAHAHAHA. I laughed so hard when reading your review. Yeah I can understand what you mean ;)**

**Guest; I just did ;). I hope you enjoyed the chapter bæ. **

**EL Captain; Yeah I see what you mean with 'saw it coming'. Still glad you enjoyed the chapter a lot. Oh wow thanks about the Dutch songs. Haha and I will.**

**FordFalcon101234: hahaha I just did! I hope you enjoyed tha chapter babe. **

**LOVE YOU ALL! **


	36. Chapter XXXI: salvation

**Hello everyone! I've absolutely loved your reviews, it just gives me life, makes me feel more confident when writing and I'm so grateful for all the love you guys have ever given me. ****Also random thingy, I'm obsessed with Ariana's new single 'Dangerous Woman'...**

**For this chappie;**

**do know the friends of Victoria are still in the delusion Victoria is dead!**

**they still think Victoria and Oliver are a couple...**

**Nocturne is the favourite cafe of Victoria and her friends. Ralph, Lizzy and Simone always play and sing there with their band**

**CHAPTER XXXI: salvation**

**ELSA**

She screamed as hard as she could for Jack's name, his soul, his heart, his love. The tears instantly streamed down her cheeks and her under lip trembled. She covered her nose and lips with her hands while sinking down to the floor. Her shoulders jolted uncontrollably while she sobbed harrowingly her eyes out.

The bullet had chosen its target:

Jack.

**SIMONE**

The ice-cold water clattered down on the beaten girl who sat on the floor of the shower cabin. She'd pulled her legs up before wrapping her arms around them. The water soaked her from head to toe, because she still wore clothes. Her wet brown tresses fell lifelessly past her face, while the shivers ran down her back. She was chattering teeth like there was no tomorrow and she'd never known cold could give you this much pain.

The huddled figure was the only living thing that filled the bathroom.

She didn't care anymore; she'd lost her best friend and she wouldn't come back.

She sobbed her eyes out till there were no tears left.

The feeling of hypothermia hitting your body was the worst she'd known. She was convinced hundreds of knifes were stabbing her in the heart, but she wanted to feel it, she wanted to suffer. This was her way of self-harm. The pain of Victoria's death felt like physical pain, it wasn't imaginary; it was real.

The frigid tiles of the bathroom made her feel like a cold store surrounded her. The chilly water slowly transformed her heart into ice.

That was all she desired for, all she wanted.

She wanted to know how it felt when you were so cold that you couldn't feel anymore.

Lizzy, who called for her name, pulled the shower curtain aside. "Simone, are you he –" the girl's blue eyes widened when she noticed her best friend was slowly becoming an ice sculpture. Lizzy immediately wrapped her arms around the drenched girl after pulling her up.

"I miss her too," Lizzy sobbed in their hug, "I miss her too," she repeated in whispers before closing her eyes.

"W-we d-don't e-even know w-why she is d-dead! Wh-why her?!" Simone questioned. "It's not fair."

"Life isn't fair, Simone," Lizzy whispered wistfully in affliction. "Come, Ralph gives a last ode to Victoria in Nocturne."

**RALPH**

That same evening stood Ralph with his guitar on stage. The hot lamps made a spotlight for him to stand in, but he was convinced the one and only spotlight had to be made for Victoria. The heat shrouded him on stage, the light blinded him and he couldn't see any further than row three of all the people that had come to say goodbye to Victoria. Some girls cried, their eyes bloodshot, the corners of people's lips dropped severely, and Ralph noticed the beginnings of broken and purple veins under the eyes of her foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Peculiarly, Oliver, as her boyfriend, wasn't here, and so Lizzy called him to ask where he on earth he was. Oliver groaned she didn't even know half of how he felt in this situation, what it did with him, and he also told her he had no need to say 'goodbye' to her. And if he had to believe Lizzy had Oliver been on the edge of crying, a thing he couldn't understand.

Oliver was letting everybody down lately: his friends, Victoria, and he followed his own rules, did his own thing, while showing at everyone who showed disapproval for his demeanour his middle finger.

But now he was suddenly acting pathetic, as if he was the sweet Prince Charming boyfriend who had lost the 'love of his life'.

Somewhere it just didn't make any sense.

Lizzy told him clearly Oliver was standing on the edge of a mental breakdown, but she even had the balls to add it probably wasn't because of Victoria.

Something else had happened, he was sure of it.

He grabbed the microphone out of the standard and cleared his throat in a controlled way. In seconds a silence fell. He began his speech with a croaky voice. "First of all, I want to thank you all for gathering to say goodbye to Veronique, or well the people who know her well, Victoria. Me and my friends have decided to put a blank notebook on the table over there so everyone can write down their memories with her, or you can write down how you'll remember her, anything it doesn't matter, as long as it's in tribute to her."

The audience all gave soft nods in agreement.

He blinked his tears away and put his paper down where he'd written his speech down on to let his heart speak, "I'll never forget her, we'll never forget her. And whatever has happened to her, if it was suicide, murder or not, I think we can all agree on the fact we'll always love her in our own way."

"Simone." Simone, who stood in the crowd of black figures, looked up in surprise when he called her name. "Sing Recovery with me," he begged, his voice as fragile as the 'A' string of a cello. "I can't do this on my own."

She hesitated, but then stepped on stage. She walked forward to stand next to him and grabbed the microphone.

"Victoria liked James Arthur. His songs are filled with a certain emotion I can place in her. She sang songs like 'Impossible', 'you're nobody till somebody loves you', Get Down' and 'Is this love' day and night. But lately, she could relate most of all with this song," Ralph paused for a moment before he announced the song.

**Song: 'Recovery' by James Arthur the version of the DELUXE ALBUM.**

**If you go to Spotify type in 'James Arthur', go to the artist and then find the deluxe album in the list. **

_(intro)_

"Here is 'Recovery' with Simone," he announced. "She has the voice of an angel," he smiled warmly through his tears. They practised it countless of times and Victoria used to watch how they performed a song of one of her favourite artists whenever she could.

If only she knew this would be her goodbye song.

_I don't want to play this game no more_

_I don't wanna play it_

_I don't want to stay 'round here no more_

_I don't wanna stay here_

The first words were hard to sing because of his croaky, broken voice. The emotions and feels were attacking him, engulfing him, destroying him, like a raging tsunami did when it hit shore. He firmly closed his eyes and instantly teared up when singing the lyrics.

_Like rain on a __Monday morning_

_Like pain that just keeps on going on_

Simone moved her head in his direction, and the girl cast her eyes down when hearing how well the lyrics matched Victoria, her being, her bipolarity, her wishes. She knew of her cutting, as the only one next to Oliver and him.

_Look at all the hate they keep on showing_

_I don't want to see that_

_Look at all the stones they keep on throwing_

_I don't want to feel that_

She described the pain of the cutting as her solace, as her only way out. She wanted to cut deeper, harder, more, wanted to yell out of pain, and scream words of deliverance. She desired to see how blood with that well-known copper taste and crimson colour would seep down her inner arm.

_Like sun that will keep on burning_

_I used to be so discerning_

Pain that burned in every vein, in every fingertip and toe was why she did it. She needed to feel it, because for her it served as an alternative for love. It gave her the same kick, the same pain in the end, since love is pain, suffering.

**ELSA**

_In my recovery_

_I'm a soldier at war_

_I have broken down walls_

_I defined_

_I designed_

_My recovery_

A silence filled the air, and not a single soul moved when seeing how Jack's eyes rolled into the back of his head, before his eyelids closed. He collapsed with a thud on the floor like he was a bird that was shot out of the sky. Under his ribcage arose a spot of blood, which soaked his light blue blouse under his formal jacket.

"Stupid enough to not wear a bulletproof vest. That amateur," James chuckled mockingly.

_In the sound of the sea_

_In the oceans of me_

_I defined_

_I designed_

_My recovery_

Jack lay lifelessly on the floor. His chest did not move, his closed eyelids concealed his icy blue irises, and suddenly Elsa saw cute, innocent Jackson lay there, not sturdy, dauntless and over-confident Jack Frost. The bullet had made his mental wall collapse.

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

_My recovery_

Victoria, who was held by Oliver, stared numbly at Jack without blinking. The shock was written all over her features and it looked like she stiffened, as her eyes grew wider and wider. Her drooping shoulders, low hanging head and soft sniffs made her look like a little, defenceless girl.

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

_My recovery_

Oliver shut his eyes in apparent resentment and he averted his head to not see the drama in front of him. He sharply inhaled in an attempt to, in all probability, calm himself down. He furrowed his eyebrows and whispered unintelligible words to himself before turning his head back.

_And I can hear the choirs keep on singing_

_Tell me what they're saying_

_And I can hear the phone_

Elsa cried as hard as she could while still crouching on her high heels. James looked at her with an amused grin. It looked as if he enjoyed the sight of her suffering, as if he wanted her to feel the pain of losing loved ones.

_It keeps on ringing_

_I don't want to answer_

_I know that I used to listen_

_And I know I've become dismissive_

The firearm Hans had shot Jack with fell out of his hand and it clattered on the ground. Elsa looked up from mewling and looked in disbelieve at him. He just killed Jack, he'd just pulled the trigger. Hans stared in taciturnity with a glassy expression at the body of Jack.

It looked like he finally seemed to realise what he'd done.

_In my recovery_

_I'm a soldier at war_

Hans turned around and faced his daughter. The distraught was written in his eyes. "Did you just pull the trigger…for me?" Victoria whispered in disbelieve. Her eyes widened and hyperventilation seemed to attack her like a cougar grabbing his pray by its throat.

Hans nodded softly in answer and cast his eyes down.

_I have broken down walls_

_I defined_

_I designed_

_My recovery_

Without thinking did Elsa run to Jack before throwing herself on the ground. Even though there'd always burned a spark of fear within her to touch something dead, she hugged him tightly before straddling his head on her lap.

_In the sound of the sea_

_In the oceans of me_

_I defined_

_I designed_

_My recovery_

His body was still warm, which meant he lived! Some of her tears landed on his cheeks and she quickly wiped them off them. She grabbed his wrist and listened to his weak pulsation. The pounding of life had never filled her with such happiness.

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

_My recovery_

"Elsa," did he whisper, while his eyelids slightly lifted. She could hear the ache and grief in his voice. He was slowly making his way to a painful death, she could feel it. Her hands cupped his cheeks fiercely as she was locked to his eyes. She just hoped he wouldn't pass away in her arms now. Their foreheads pressed against each other while she sniffed woefully.

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

_My recovery_

He slowly stretched out his hand to cup her cheek. His hand became colder and colder with second because he was losing more and more blood. Her hand trailed down his chest to feel the wet and warm spot of blood that soaked his blouse. Her fingertips were covered it when she pulled her hand back.

_(3:10)_

"You were my new dream," he whispered.

"And you were mine," she whispered back with a soft smile. The grip of his hand slackened and before she knew it his hand slipped away to fall with a thud on the ground. His eyes shut, he exhaled for the last time and after that there was no Jack anymore.

Just his body.

Her eyes widened and she moved his wrist to her ear.

Her biggest fear came true;

No pulsation.

(3:20)

She cried out his name, and when he didn't react anymore she turned her head over her shoulder and yelled, "someone please give me a cloth, so I can try to stop the bleeding!"

James stared apathetically at her, expressionless. Hans, on the contrary, showed his guilt openly, and she knew he knew the feeling of losing loved ones. "I'm afraid it's too late for that, Elsa," Hans spoke softly.

A powerless feeling engulfed her. He paid for what had to be her death, she had the one to be in his place now.

_In my recovery_

_I'm a soldier at war_

_I have broken down walls_

_I defined_

_I designed_

_My recovery_

"No, I... I need you," she mourned gravely, while holding him in her arms. She ran affably through his hair, before pressing once more her forehead on his while pleading he had to stay with her, but they were only heard by the living souls in the room.

And Jack wasn't one of them anymore.

_In the sound of the sea_

_In the oceans of me_

_I defined_

_I designed_

Her heart filled itself with emptiness yet anger. He didn't deserve this, but the damage was done already.

She whispered her goodbye to him in his ear, before kissing him for the last time on his lips. Then, she raised and faced James. "Take me. You want me dead? Take your vengeance, do it here, right now; shoot me."

_My recovery_

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

"What?!" Victoria yelled breathlessly and she tried to run out his Oliver's arms but he grabbed her and pulled her back. "Elsa, no, you can't leave me behind like everybody has done with me. Don't be like Jack, my mother, my sister, and my boyfriend, don't be like them, Elsa!"

The girl was yelling and fighting against Oliver as if her life depended on it. She cried, she yelled, she screamed, she kicked, she tried to scratch him and just went totally insane.

Then, she spoke determinedly, "James, if you shoot her then shoot me as well."

**SIMONE**

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

She tried to keep singing without crying, but attempts weren't enough. Simone kept singing the same lines through Ralph's chanting '_keep soaring, keep song-writing' _over and over again. Sight was blurred, her chest jolted, her hands were trembling, and she cried out her eyes as she sang and sang.

Eye contact was made with Ralph. Never had she felt lyrics so deeply, never had it been able to break her, until now. The tears kept on running down her cheeks anyway, as they drained her happiness away.

_Keep soaring,_

_Keep song-writing_

Then, it was over.

Victoria was over.

**HANS**

"No Victoria," Hans spoke magisterially while making his way to her. Oliver handed her over to him and Hans put his hands on her shoulders. "You're not going to make an end to your life like this."

"Come on Hans, don't be such a kill-joy. Does daddy always need to interfere himself with it? The child is sixteen; old and wise enough to make her own choices," James shrugged amusedly, while a malicious grin spread across his face.

He winked coldly at Victoria when their eyes met.

"We're talking about life and death, so I have every reason to be the kill-joy now," Hans hissed protectively through gritted teeth.

"Victoria, think about it: no more suffer, just salvation, and I…I can give it to you," James whispered, while he stretched out his hand to her. Victoria turned her head to the sinner and stared at him. She made her way out of Hans' grip and made her way to him as if his gaze possessed her.

"Veronique," Hans hissed warningly. She stopped walking, but didn't turn around. "Reviens, maintenant," he continued in French through gritted teeth. Victoria bit her under lip and turned herself to him, but she hadn't even put a step back to listen to her father or James spoke again.

"Come to me, dear. Allow me to redeem you," James continued while he spread his arms.

Hesitantly, did Victoria make her way to the criminal again and when she was in reach for him James wrapped his arms around her, as he grimaced deviously at Hans, who hissed in envy. "Your own daughter turns her back to you, Hans. Must be painful," James chuckled in fake compassion, while he ran possessively through her hair.

"May I pull the trigger myself?" Victoria asked, while breaking apart from James, who held her in his arms.

"Of course, dear." Hans was blown away when hearing the nearly nice tone in his voice. James handed the gun over to her and Victoria put it to the side of her head while staring the criminal straight in his eyes.

Oliver stared wide-eyed at Victoria, while his eyes glided judgingly up and down her being. "This bitch just turned crazy," he whispered breathlessly.

Hans wanted to slam the firearm out of her hands and yell at her she had to act normal for once, but if this was her choice he couldn't do anything about it. He had to let her go. It was a horrible sight to see her like this, and he begged her to not do it, but she ignored him.

"Goodbye James," she spoke, but instead of pulling the trigger to shoot herself, she instantly removed the gun from her head and as surprise attack she aimed it at James, whose eyes narrowed till they were little slits in dismay.

Hans felt proud when she showed such braveness. He knew she was as sly as a fox, but he would've never expected from her to think of this. "You shot my mother, now I'm going to shoot you down the same way like you did with her."

"Go ahead, pull that trigger, Vero," James smirked widely.

And she did indeed, but she was trembling like crazy. She fought against her tears and shut her eyes while counting down, but she never made it to zero.

"I'm waiting," James sighed matter-of-factly with a roll of his eyes.

"I c-can't," she cried out.

"Come on Victoria, pull that damn trigger!" Elsa yelled in panic. "Do it now! Take your vengeance."

Victoria's eyes moved from Elsa back to James and it was clear she didn't know what to do. "But then I'm a murderer! I'm better than that right?" she yelled, while she kept aiming. She'd never handled a gun, and you could see it. "Fuck!" Victoria cursed. "I just want to do this for mum!" she cried out, while her finger still rested on the trigger.

"Victoria," James spoke utterly serious, and she looked up. "Shooting me won't heal your grief. You can't win your mother's life back by shooting me."

"But if you really want to shoot me, go ahead, indeed I deserve it, but think of the consequences. No bullet comes without a catch after all…" he ended with a quick shrug.

"Vero, you can do this," she whispered to herself, while she shut her eyes to concentrate herself. Then, they shut open and she pulled the trigger, but to her shock, there happened nothing.

"Whoops, I guess it just ran out of bullets," James sang, while his tongue grazed playfully over his cloven under lip. She stared down at the Semi-Automat with narrowed eyes, before looking at James again.

"You knew this?!" she yelled at him, while throwing the gun across the room. James dodged it without even looking up and he chuckled scornfully.

"Obviously."

Victoria's eyes widened noticeably.

"Oliver, you shoot Victoria, I do Hans. It's enough with the talking," James groaned. Oliver grabbed the gun Victoria had thrown across the room from the ground, loaded it with bullets, and aimed it at her, while James moved his reserve gun in Hans' direction.

Hans stood frozen to the ground next to Victoria. He felt how her hand searched blindly for his, now she stared in trance at the gun hole of Oliver's Semi-Automat. She tried to get eye contact with her ex, but he shut his eyes and averted his head from her.

"On zero," James ordered to his son. Victoria closed firmly her eyes, just like him, while squeezing his hand so firmly it hurt.

"Three."

He'd never thought to end like this.

"Two,"

But so to see there was no other choice. He'd tried everything to fight against it, but it hadn't helped.

"On –"

Everybody looked up when the door of the room came with a blow against the opposite wall. Both Oliver and James lowered their weapons and their eyes widened when about thirty police and ISA agents invaded the room with heavy artillery.

Hans and Victoria turned themselves to each other and they instantly hugged, while the tears in happiness ran down their cheeks.

Because yes, even Super Dads cry.

A feeling of usurpation and gratitude that someone had saved him and his daughter overwhelmed him. Victoria sobbed in his chest, while wrapping dearly her arms around him.

They were free, the nightmare, and the misery after eleven years was over. He couldn't describe the ecstasy he felt. "We've made it Nike, we've made it," Hans whispered in relief and happiness in their hug as he ran through her hair. "I'll never let you go."

"I will never let you go as well papa," she whispered before she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

**ELSA**

With drooping shoulders and a hanging head did she run through his messy hair, as her tears fell on him like angels did when falling out of heav en. "Look at you, Jackson. You're lying here because of me. I will never forgive you for that," she groaned heartedly while she moved her sleeve past her cheek to wipe the tears off her cheeks.

A soft smile flourished across her lips when thinking of their memories together. "After all those years is your hair still as untameable as your will, Jackson, and look where it brought you know," she sighed wistfully.

She remembered cute and shy Jackson Overland, how he'd jumped in after her when she'd fallen through the ice when they were young. She remembered he'd saved her, and then, how he left her.

And then, thirteen years later did their paths cross once more. And this time didn't stand a cute boy across her, but a twenty-seven-year-old man with the name Jack Frost, instead of Jackson Overland. He'd changed it after all. With his changed demeanour, dyed snow-white hair and eyes, which seemed bluer than luminescent plankton that lived on the Maldives, did he look unrecognisable for any living soul.

No one would think under the façade of a man hid a little boy, scared for rejection.

She turned her head over her shoulder when hearing James protesting, "you can't arrest me! You have no evidence!" She saw an agent handcuffed him while another one held him in place.

"Shut up, you can whine about your innocence at the law court in front of the judges," the agent who held him in place hissed and he turned James' head back over his shoulder so he looked forward again.

Finally after twenty-one years had the criminal been caught.

The era of fear and Pitch Black was over.

Elsa's eyes widened when she realised the two agents were no other persons than Hiccup and Astrid, her fellow colleagues.

"Guys! Hiccup, Astrid," she exclaimed, but they didn't hear her. She raised as fast as she could to make her way to her two best friends, even when she was trembling like a deer on her legs.

Hiccup was talking to Astrid, who was busy holding James in place. She nodded absently from time to time, her big blue eyes shimmering in thoroughness and sultriness, while looking at him. It could only mean thing: ice-cold Astrid had finally thawed for his desperate pleads.

Elsa, as her best friend, knew the blonde better than anyone else and it was clear she was thinking what to wear as she would handcuff her boyfriend to her bed this night.

Three men of the police joined the conversation. They wore bulletproof vests over their black turtlenecks. One of them checked his Heckler and Koch MP5 shotgun. So to see was Hiccup the chief over the operation, and Elsa felt proud because the softie was known to be everything but authoritative.

But so to see his girlfriend had made sure he dared to play the boss, and knowing Astrid that ruled for in- and outside the bedroom.

She yelled Hiccup and Astrid's name once. Finally did they hear her and they both turned their heads over their shoulder before exclaiming in mirth her name with widened eyes. Elsa ran into their arms after Astrid had handed James over to another agent.

It felt good to see her dear colleagues and best friends again and she couldn't help but sniff in Hiccup's chest.

They broke apart and Elsa squeaked in panic, "someone, please help Jack!" She turned herself to prevent her body from blocking the view of Jack's body that lied on the floor. The blood and life dripped out him like he was a tap that wasn't entirely shut off.

"Shit! What's happened?" Astrid exclaimed in shock, and all three ran to his body. Astrid threw herself on the floor just like Elsa. She cupped his cheeks with her hands and demanded he had to wake up while shaking him in panic. "Fuck this Hiccup, I've said it! Don't let him go out there on his own," she sulked while several tears escaped her eyes. She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders began to jolt. Hiccup's under lip trembled, the corners of his lips dropped noticeably and he lowered to the ground to take her in his arms.

Elsa, Astrid and Hiccup all looked up when two paramedics took Jack's body out of Elsa's arms to urgently bring him to the hospital. The rage in her began to blaze like a fire where oil had been thrown on and she narrowed her eyes. How dare they take him away from her just like that!

Jack lay lifelessly like a doll on the stretcher, and Elsa couldn't stop mewling. One of the paramedics secured him to the bed while the other one did a check up. One of them spoke, "cardiac arrest?"

A nod in response from the other one, "CPR him." And with these words was he taken to the ambulance. Elsa's eyes widened noticeably and she wanted to tell the paramedics she wanted to be with Jack when he would be driven to the hospital, but the medics walked faster than she could.

She began to run on her trembling legs to the stretcher, but someone grabbed her by her arm. When she turned her head over her shoulder she saw it was a police agent. He spoke firmly, "stay here, miss. We need to interrogate every eyewitness who was involved in this case."

She turned her head over her shoulder and watched how the paramedics and Jack had disappeared. She began to tear up once more and exclaimed, "no, let me go! I need him!"

"Who miss?"

"Jack, my colleague!" She began to struggle against the man's grip, while she gasped for air. Her tears blurred her sight, while she kicked and yelled, but nothing would work. "Now let me go for the last time!" She stepped on the man's toe before she sank her teeth in his hand.

She loosened herself when his grip loosened now he hissed in pain, and she took a sprint. She ran into the corridor that would to the front door. The length and narrowness made her feel claustrophobic, but she kept running, the black and white photos and prints of New York passing her, just like a blurry mirror with lime scale. It felt as if she'd tumbled in a dream where you ran for your life but didn't make any progress, you just ran in place.

Footsteps followed her and when she turned her head over her shoulder she saw the police agent was following her.

Her hand reached out for the doorknob of the front door when he grabbed her from behind before pinning her against the wall.

"If you think I'm a potential criminal, then I'm afraid I have to disappoint you," she spoke bittersweet. Then, her princess smile faded and she yelled clarifying at him; "I'M FROM THE EFFING INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, THE ISA YEAH?"

He looked up from handcuffing her and she reached in the pocket of her leather jacket for her ISA ID card. She didn't even show it to him for a second, or she took a sprint again to run outside.

Once she did, the fresh air instantly filled her lungs after nearly a week, and she'd never felt so alive, so happy. The sound of New York's rambunctious traffic echoed in the distance, and it felt relieving to see the outside world again. She blinked with her eyes when the overexposure of light began to sting to her eyes.

Life felt like a dream, or better said it felt like a straight down nightmare.

She was convinced this couldn't be real. What if she'd never woken up after Hans had smashed her against the wall when she tried to save Victoria out of his apartment? What if this was her comatose dream?

What if she was already dead, and what if this was a dream of how it could've ended?

But deep down she knew she still lived.

Life seemed to pass in slow motion, and time seemed to freeze. Only she stayed as alive and kicking as a just-born foal.

She turned her head in every direction and stared numbly around. Several ISA minivans were parked on the side of the road, and the red-and-blue police lights on top of the police cars flicked on and off.

The situation, the story, the chaos she was a part of could be storyline worthy of her favourite TV show.

Normally she'd be safely sitting on the couch with Jack in their apartment, watching their favourite detective as they stuffed their mouths with popcorn, but this time _she_ was the character, _she_ was part of the storyline, _she_ was part of the TV show.

And it felt horrible.

"This isn't real," she whispered to herself in shock, while she still stared dazedly around at her environment. "This isn't real!" she yelled, so her voice echoed in the street.

The ambulance drove away and made its way out of the lonely street, as its sirens with their loud, glaring noise harassed her ears.

Elsa immediately covered her ears, and closed firmly her eyes while screamed for Jack's name as hard as she could.

As she kept yelling, screaming and mewling on the top of her lungs did she sink down to the pavement. The snow fell from the heavens like fallen angels, the cold howled around her while her heart turned into ice.

Everything passed in slow motion, everything just wouldn't stop moving slowly. Seconds felt like minutes, hours even, and it felt as if time itself grabbed for her throat to strangle her without remorse.

Astrid and Hiccup ran outside, to Elsa before they both sank to the ground and wrapped their arms around the crying and inconsolable Elsa. She kept screaming his name while the tears rolled down her cheeks.

When her broken voice wasn't able to yell anymore she began to whisper. Whisper for his name, his come back.

But most of all, for his life.

**Nawh poor Elsa. If Jack is dead or not, well he'll undergo surgery because the bullet needs to be removed of course haha. Then I'll make my decision to let him live or not. **

**OH GUYS, I just published a new story Veston Adelaide! It'll eventually be HelsaxElsa, and plays just after the Edwardian Era! –to be exact it starts in 1912-. Jack will have a role in the story! Yay!**

**Things like RMS Titanic, demonic possession, WWI and of course a lot of drama –my stories don't survive without it- will be part of the plot, but in a way you've never seen before. I've never read about demonic possession in the fandom anyway so yeah… Also, no it won't take place on Titanic...kind of. Read to find out ;) **

**Anyway I've absolutely fallen in love with this new story and I hope you guys will too. If you want to give it a try would mean the world to me.**

**Here's my response to reviews:**

**Caslynskater: hey, a new reviewer! I'd never heard of you before haha. Would love to hear more of you 3 **

**LittleTimothy: yes indeed, poor Jack. Well when I read your review and saw the part about Hans who could've shot himself…it would've been an awesome plot twist because of course everybody thought Elsa or Jack was shot but I have a whole storyline planned already so I couldn't make it happen…**

**SilentReader: I notice you review lately more, which I LIKE GURL. Hahaha I'm sorry for making you upset. And no, it won't end here LOL no gurl this is the beginning. I have lots left for you. Well… spoiler: Jack's not dead…kind of yet? Idk I've got something planned and you're going to kill me for the cliffy I have in mind. Oh and thanks! Yes I update regularly now!**

**Madison: hey, thanks for the info! Nahw I got you practically to tears. O my God I can't wait for your review for Veston Adelaide… cause mostly you always check out all of my stories. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME.**


	37. Chapter XXXII: layers

**Hey everyone, thank you for the support and YAY I have a new program to edit my works with. It helped me a lot… It's called 'Writer Pro' if I say this right…**

**I love you! **

**CHAPTER XXXII: layers**

**ELSA**

The snow fluttered out of the heavens like fallen angels, frost grew like a wild, untameable ivy over the windows of people's homes, and the northern wind howled around the skyscrapers of Manhattan as if it wanted to instantly devour the bundles of iron and proud.

Elsa was convinced the cold didn't only have the ability to freeze her heart, but also the time.

Life continued, but for her in slow motion. Police officers, agents, forensic investigators, more paramedics, Hans, ISA colleagues, everybody passed her, but Elsa could only numbly stare at the wall on the other side of the room, which was covered with Victoria's blood.

Her mind could be compared to a blank notebook people use to write down their inspiration in. There were no words, no thoughts, no quotes, no stories to be found in, it was just a bundle of white pages.

She desired to have certainty. Certainty if Jack would survive it, certainty about the future, and certainty about how this adventure, yet this chaos would end.

She didn't wish for a happily ever after; she wished for a satisfying ending. But then the question, 'what exactly is satisfying in this case?' popped up in her head. It was difficult to answer, she decided.

The voice behind her, which belonged to Astrid, pulled her out of thoughts, and she turned around to face her friend. "Some ISA agents, including me and Hiccup have investigated the apartment and guess what?"

A sigh escaped her lips as she spoke. "What?"

"We've found the missing fingertip of Aurelie Leroux, or shortly said, Victoria's mum," Astrid spoke seriously. Hiccup, who stood next to his girlfriend, held up a translucent plastic bag. Elsa twitched in horror when seeing the evidence.

Elsa's eyes widened for a millisecond, and her heart skipped a beat. "Is her body here?!" she stammered breathlessly.

"Nope." Astrid shook her head. "Only this has been found back, along with the lethal weapon that was presumably used to cut off her fingertip with."

"We've examined the phalanx," she continued, "and it looks like a sharp, rather little knife chopped it off. Once we discovered that, we began to search for daggers in the apartment, and soon we found one with a pentagram burned on the blade."

Hiccup took it over from his colleague, "Pitch is infamously known for cutting off body parts after murdering his victim. The police found out after preforming autopsy on all victims that he always uses the same sort knife, -"

"And guess what?" Apparently, Astrid was too excited to wait till Hiccup had finished his sentence. "The knife we've found corresponds to the description the police would give to the knife James always uses."

"Really?" Elsa smiled relieved. "Then this can be used as evidence for the case!"

"In fact, it _is _evidence for the case," Astrid smirked victoriously. She continued, "most people think he randomly cuts off particular parts of people's bodies, because never were one of his victims murdered in the same way, never were the same body parts cut off, but this is the first case where we can actually make a link to another one."

Hiccup explained, "his first victim ever was his step-dad, Brian, and it didn't take long or the police discovered he missed a phalanx."

"Did James kill him out of covetousness?" Elsa questioned with crossed arms, while her eyes darted from Hiccup to Astrid.

Hiccup shook his head. "The police think it's vengeance. So to see Nemesis is James' side…" Hiccup groaned heartedly with a quick sniff.

"For already twenty-one years," Elsa added soberly.

"Eh I'm confused." Astrid furrowed her eyebrows. "Nemesis is..?"

"Greek goddess of vengeance," Hiccup explained. "Daughter of Nyx, goddess of night," Elsa and Hiccup ended in unison with a sigh.

Astrid gave a nod before resuming her story. "Anyway, if we are able to find Aurelie's body back we can discover if James cut off her left or right fingertip."

"I wonder why that's so important?" Elsa snorted. She clarified, when Astrid cocked an eyebrow upwards, "I mean, yeah I understand you want to find the body of a missing person back, but I don't see why it's crucial to know if it's her left or right phalanx."

"Because Elsa," Astrid's eyes rolled sassily into the back of her sockets, "if James cut off her left fingertip she's murdered in the exact same way as Brian. Maybe it's a link? Maybe James means something with it?"

Elsa shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I'd say ask him."

"Har har,very funny," Astrid groaned.

"I wonder if Aurelie knew Brian," Hiccup wondered.

"Nah, I don't think so," Astrid objected. "Aurelie is a française, and Brian has his origins in the UK, so I'd see no reason why they'd know each other."

Elsa nodded quickly, but looked up when a huddled figure with red hair caught the corner of her eye. She immediately recognised it as Victoria.

The tresses of the girl fell apathetically past her face, and the gloss hadn't only disappeared out of her hair, but also out of her pugnacity.

Nobody noticed her, nobody asked how she was doing, if she was in need for anything.

"Wait, I'll be right back," Elsa announced, and she made her way to her friend. She leaned with her back against the bloodied wall and sank down to the floor to sit next to Victoria.

Never had Elsa seen her crying so harrowingly, never had Elsa seen her shoulders jolting so uncontrollably, and never had Elsa seen her showing this level of vulnerability.

Victoria cowered and averted her head from Elsa when she ran a hand through the teen's hair.

"Leave me alone," she begged between her sobs and sniffs.

Elsa's gaze shoved to Victoria's mutilated wrists and arms when she cast her eyes down in answer. The friction of the ropes that were formerly bond around her wrists had ripped her skin open to leave her with reddish, irritated cuts.

Blood that first seeped down her arm had dried up to leave a coppery, scruffy glow on her complexion.

The tears in agitation emerged in Elsa's eyes when noticing she nearly couldn't find a single spot on Victoria's inner arm where a cut hadn't been carved in.

She furrowed her eyebrows when she began to decode words in the gashes. In Victoria's left arm did Elsa read 'Nyx' and in her right did she read 'Eos'.

Sin and truth.

She closed her eyes and remembered that quote Oliver talked about.

Victoria looked up and turned her head to the window where a sunbeam knew how to wring itself through the split of a curtain. She blinked multiple times with her eyes when the overexposure of light blinded her.

The sunlight enhanced the vivacious colour green in her eyes, the dull gloss in her auburn hair, and her frigid, pale complexion.

It was the first time Elsa saw her so pure, so natural, so 'real', now she'd cried both her mental wall and make up away.

She didn't look like a sixteen-year-old teen, but actually more like a six-year-old little girl who was in need for a mother figure.

Without thinking did Elsa hug her. To her surprise did Victoria clamp herself on her. There was nothing left of her. Her dignity was burned till ashes, and her crown was taken by evil.

One of Victoria's tears fell on her arm. She shushed her best friend before kissing her on the crown of her head. "It's okay, I'm here," she whispered, and she kept repeating her words till Victoria's sobs turned less wrenching.

"When will this nightmare end?" Victoria cried in her chest, after realising Elsa wouldn't leave alone, where she first asked for.

"Now. This is it, this is the end, here is the finish, you've already passed it," Elsa smiled softly, while rocking her softly in her arms.

"You can celebrate your victory," she added whispering with a quick wink when they broke apart. Victoria smiled softly, before moving her hand to the back of her neck, and once her fingertips brushed over a certain place, she cringed and twitched in pain. "Can you look at a place between my shoulder blades and tell me if Oliver cut me badly?" she asked. "Because it hurts a lot," she added in mumbles.

After Elsa nodded did Victoria turn her back to her. She moved her hair over her shoulder and Elsa reached for the zipper of her dress to pull it down. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with a small gasp when seeing the damage Oliver had caused on her once so smooth, equal back.

She studied the ripped skin, and it seemed as if Oliver had tried everything to make the carving as deep, and as incurable as possible, so it'd become a nasty scar.

Elsa began to see logic in the way he'd cut.

"What's wrong?" Victoria asked over her shoulder when Elsa remained silent.

"Oliver…" she stammered. "H-he cut a symbol your back, a heart triquetra to be exact."

Victoria gasped in dismay. "It looks awful, doesn't it? H-how big is it?" she fired back over her shoulder with widened eyes.

"It's about five by five centimetres, I guess…"

Victoria cursed under her breath and narrowed noticeably her eyes till little slits while clenching her fists. Elsa shushed her in an attempt to calm her down, but in vain. "You can't even compare the devil itself to that sociopath," Victoria hissed furiously.

"We're all villains in our own way, Victoria, no one's the angel here in this situation," Elsa shushed her soberly.

"Yes, but we're all heroes in our own way as well," Victoria corrected her.

"That's true," Elsa nodded, "it's just the fact that as soon as people notice there's no balance between good or bad in one's morality, he or she is described as a sinner."

"My morality is everything but 'balanced'," Victoria groaned pessimistically back, not facing Elsa.

"Victoria I have to tell you something about what I learned in life," Elsa began seriously, and she put her hand under the teen's chin to turn her head in her direction.

She continued, "in the end it's better to be honest with the people you love most. Just in general is it just very important to be honest, to not lie, keep things away, deceive people. Sooner yet later they'll discover it anyway, believe me,"she preached.

"Why should I be honest to people about my sins?" Victoria chuckled scoffingly. "If I am, they always become mad with me anyway…"

"That may be, but you do tell the truth yourself to those people, I mean it'd be worse if they have to find it out themselves, and I bet they'll be even more upset in that case."

Victoria nodded softly in agreement, even when it was hesitant. Then, she mumbled rather out of the blue.

"I want a home, not a house. Elsa?"

She nodded with a soft smile.

"Do you and Jack want to take me in as your adoption daughter?"

Elsa chuckled. "Dear, I have to tell you something."

Victoria furrowed her eyebrows in question.

"Jack and I aren't married."

Victoria's eyes shut open, and never had the girl laughed so instantly and so hard in scoff. "What a joke, you're so funny Elsa!"

But the grin instantly disappeared from her face when Elsa stayed serious, and didn't show a sign of joking. She decided to just say it. James had already spoken words like 'ISA', 'North' and 'WHPA' anyway.

She spoke in one breath, "we're colleagues and work under obligation of confidentiality for a secret service called the 'International Security Agency', or shortly the 'ISA'."

Victoria stared numbly at her and didn't pull a single expression in response, nor did she say something.

Elsa bended to her ear and clarified whispering, "we're undercover agents." When her eyes met Victoria's she winked.

When Victoria finally understood it her mouth dropped, her eyes widened in pleasant surprise and she whispered in amazement, "You people do exist, that's so cool!"

"Don't tell anyone."

"I won't!" Victoria insisted.

Elsa got back to business again. "But, about your homing problem… You have a father, and I'm certain Hans is willing to take care of you."

Victoria's eyes darted to Hans, who was talking with Astrid and Hiccup. He furrowed his eyebrows lightly when Astrid told him probably the same story as she did with Elsa, now she held up the translucent plastic bag with Aurelie's phalanx in it.

"I don't know, it's kind of awkward you know…this situation I mean," Victoria mumbled back with a sigh. She pulled up her legs, and wrapped her arms around them before softly rocking herself. As Hans was talking and listening to Astrid, his gaze slightly moved past her, to look at his daughter.

When Victoria's and Hans' eyes met his gaze softened, and a warm smile flourished gradually across his lips. Hans smiled the same way as Victoria: they lifted the corners of their mouths but never did they show their teeth when they either grinned, snickered or giggled.

If only Victoria knew her smile could heal the sick and injured. It was filled with beauty, youth and warmth.

Hans walked over to his daughter and when he was close enough he lowered to the ground where she and Elsa were sitting.

The grief, pain, relief and yet love was written all at the same time in his gaze. It agitated Elsa.

Hans reached out his trembling hand to her cheek to caress it affably. It'd been days she'd been treated with such gentleness, such care.

As soon as Victoria's eyes met Hans' she wrapped as tightly as she could her arms around him before burying her face in his chest.

He dazedly looked down at her when realising he had his daughter back, and that she accepted him.

He swallowed before firmly bit his under lip to prevent himself from letting a tear escape his eye. Then, he also wrapped his arms around her, ran a hand through her hair and kissed her on the crown of her head.

Both Victoria and Elsa had never seen him crying, had never seen him so vulnerable, so open and yet so emotional.

They broke apart and Victoria awed. "Don't cry Hansie, because then I'm going to cry as well!" she giggled softly while using her thumbs to affably wipe the tears off his cheeks, before doing her own.

Victoria asked, "will we live here, in New York? And if we will, may that empty room in your apartment you don't use be my room please? And do you have a problem with it if Fabienne stays with me -"

Hans shushed her. "Slow down, slow down, -"

"No, I won't 'slow down'," she protested cheekily. "I want to know the truth, I want to hear the whole story, why you put our house on fire, why you left me, why you used to work for James, why you did what you did to me!"

Hans parted his lips to answer her, but everybody looked up when Hiccup grabbed him by his upper arm before pulling him up. Victoria groaned lowly, yet wolf-like in dismay. "Where will you bring him to?!"

"To the police station for interrogation," Hiccup explained, while handcuffing Hans. "And that also rules for you," he added.

Astrid, who stood next to Hiccup, carefully grabbed Victoria by her wrist and pulled her up. Victoria struggled against Astrid, who was handcuffing her. "You think I'm going to spill details about what Oliver did to me, what this situation did to me to you vague people?! Huh go fuck yourselves please," she spat through narrowed eyes.

Elsa rolled with her eyes when she went from a zero to a one hundred within 0.001 seconds, where the redhead was infamously known for.

"Victoria, do what they ask from you to do," Hans ordered. "And they're not 'vague people', they're of the ISA, the-"

"I know! I know!" she interrupted him impatiently.

"Well you probably didn't know I used to be an agent for that organisation…," Hans sighed soberly, while lightly biting his lip.

Victoria furrowed her eyebrows and stared in scoff and suspicion at her father from head to toe. Then, she instantly burst out in laughter, and she slapped her knee while nearly sinking down to the floor. Never did her acting skills leave her behind. "Har har, dad was a secret agent, what a joke."

She immediately stopped laughing and deadpanned, "okay and now the truth."

Hans remained silent, and Victoria protested in disbelieve, "but those things only exist in films, TV shows, and books, I mean there is no such thing as -"

"We may exist in such things as films, TV shows, and books, but we also exist in real life…" Hans corroborated with a sigh. "Just don't expect some James Bond or Kingsman scenario… Our job is not to mess with, we're responsible for many lives, the safety of many people, world leaders sometimes even."

Hiccup intervened and ordered, "enough talk, come," before pulling Hans with him, as Astrid pulled Victoria with her.

"Hans!" Victoria yelled. "I only want to tell my story to the police if I may be with you when you tell yours!"

Astrid and Hiccup turned their head to each other. "No, it's not allowed," Astrid objected firmly.

"Please dear," Hiccup spoke, and he put his hand on Astrid's shoulder. "Make an exception for once," he begged, and Elsa nodded with him in agreement.

Astrid sighed, but gave in. "Good, but if we get in trouble with it I'm not going to pay for the consequences." And she pulled Victoria with her, just like Hiccup who did the same with Hans.

"Oh and Elsa," Hiccup spoke over his shoulder as he walked. "Make a call to the international headquarter, Laurence wants to speak with you."

Elsa's eyes widened noticeably and her heart skipped a bit. An instant heart attack engulfed her. "L-Laurence?!" she stammered. "the Laurence Lefèvre, our upper CEO?"

Hiccup quickly nodded before disappearing with Astrid following him.

Victoria looked quickly over her shoulder to look at Elsa, her gaze filled with insecurity. Her onyx dress for her premiere was ruffled and creased, her long stringy hair had lost its softness, and her body was carved with new cuts and scars. The same ruled for her mind.

And then not to forget her eyes.

It were the eyes of a woman in a child.

Elsa shivered.

After Hans and Victoria were brought to the police station, and after the journalist of the CNN news had left, were only three forensic investigators, and some police and ISA agents, including herself, over.

The forensic experts seemed like walking clouds to Elsa, with their white full-body suits with a hood. Their a masks, booties and gloves finished their clothing off.

Along with two ISA colleagues, Isabella and Ethan Ascot, did she continue to investigate the apartment.

As the three entered James' bedroom to search for suspect things did Isabella tell her some about her and her husband's career, after Elsa had asked about it. "My husband and I met at the ISA academy in Sydney."

"Hence the Aussie accent," Elsa snickered, while roaming through James' bed stand. All she found were three guns, which she gladly took for research.

Isabella smiled, "do you find it annoying?"

"No, not at all," Elsa shook her head, as she walked over to James' closet. "There should be diversity, I hate monotony," Elsa spoke over her shoulder, while shoving James' clothes on their clothes hangers away.

Isabella smiled softly, before continuing. "Ethan and I graduated at the ISA academy and after that did we see each other more and more on the work floor. Four years later he proposed me and two kids, one dog, and a move to the United States followed." She beamed in pride. She threw the sheets of James' bed aside, while Ethan lied on the floor with a flashlight to look if there could be anything found under the sinner's bed.

"What's the sex of your children? Not that it matters or so, just curiosity," Elsa asked soberly, while closing the closet door when she couldn't find anything.

"We have one twenty-two-year-old son, Stefan, who's the oldest, and one sixteen-year-old daughter, Lizzy."

"I've always been told by my teachers at the ISA Academy that combining family with this job is practically impossible, and yet you two know how to do it," she snorted.

"Oh well," Ethan relativised, "it's easier to hide our true jobs from the kids now the oldest lives on his own, and the youngest is in high school."

"But still… Lizzy is only sixteen and there are periods of time you two are gone for over months. I wonder how you explain that to her?" Elsa asked curiously over her shoulder, while lifting the mattress of the bed to make sure James didn't hide something under it.

"We have our 'own business' and so we 'need to travel the world a lot'," Isabella quoted her fingers in the air as she spoke.

"Lizzy isn't interested in what we're doing anyway," Ethan added groaning. "If you'd ask her what the name our company is she wouldn't even know it…"

Elsa nodded. Then, she began to realise something and she oh-ed. "Okay wait, your surname is 'Ascot' right?"

Both Ethan and Isabella nodded. "Just random questioning eh, but does your daughter know a girl with the name Victoria?"

"Yes, absolutely," Ethan grinned.

"Then you two are the parents of Lizzy Ascot, who I've met once! If I'd known her parents were you two…" she sighed in amazement. Isabella and Ethan were feared by other ISA agents for their excellent work presentations, and they were loyal ISA supporters with their service for Laurence ever since the multinational was founded.

"You do know your daughter is best friends with the son of James Black?" Elsa spoke soberly, while glancing under the mattress, but there was nothing.

"I'm sorry what?" Lizzy's mother furrowed his eyebrows and she looked up.

Elsa clarified, "Lizzy follows hip-hop lessons. There, she got to know Oliver. She's like best friends with him."

"Yes, we've heard countless of times about him, but never did she mention his dad is actually Pitch Black…" Isabella gasped.

Elsa shushed her when she found something under James' pillow. It was a photo of him, holding two just-born babies in his arms.

The youth dripped off James' face like melted butter, the corners of his lips curled into a beautiful smile, and she could see the tears of happiness in his eyes.

"Take note of my words: within four years is Oliver a copy of young James," Elsa murmured, while her fingertip grazed over the photo, over James' mirthful, unscarred face. Ethan and Isabelle walked closer and gazed at the photo in awe.

"He looked so happy, just for a little moment. I wonder whose babies he's holding here," Isabella smiled in curiosity.

"It looks like it's a twin," Elsa mumbled. "Oh well… whatever it's just a photo, just a memory you know." She didn't put the photo back under his pillow, but put it in her pocket.

She wanted to look at it herself when she was alone.

After they didn't find anything exciting in James' bedroom did they move on to Oliver's.

It was an ordered room. He'd given all his stuff a place with a reason, with a thought behind it, with logic, she could see it.

His desk was already a good example. Also, it told her a lot about Oliver's true persona. Simply said she could easily tell the seventeen-year-old was an ambitious, demanding control freak who had an allergic to everything untidy, messy or unordered.

She pulled one of the drawers of his desk open. What she found was henna paste, henna cones, henna designs, drawings, a notebook, a bucket list, and to her surprise, whole pages written about how he saw the world, life and what you should do with it.

Well, he was an artistic soul that was clear.

She looked up when noticing in every drawing, in every henna design he'd put a heart triquetra.

She didn't understand how he'd thought of it to mix Arabian culture with an Indo-European symbol. It seemed so illogical, yet so brilliant.

Elsa pulled another drawer open to find a note which read '_HELP ME'_

She pursed her lips in question.

She noticed a small table stood next to his desk. It was filled with stuff like candles in all sorts of sizes and colours, crystals, stones, incense, a pentagram, an athamé and much more mesmerising, but still vague objects.

"That's an altar,"Ethan explained when he probably saw her furrowing her eyebrows. "It's used by people who do Wicca, or well…follow a Wiccan lifestyle, because that's what it is. It isn't a religion though, a thing most people don't know."

"This guy keeps surprising me," Elsa whispered in disbelief. Oliver inspired her, and she was intrigued by the depths of his personality, the amount of layers he had, the amount of faces, yet masks.

She opened his closet and grinned when discovering there hung eight black leather jackets in it. The guy was addicted to them and she almost never saw him wearing anything else.

Mostly people's first impression -and also Elsa's- about Oliver was that he was the stereotype bad boy who had a bad influence on his innocent girlfriend. -not that Victoria was innocent in any way, but she was still seen holier than Oliver-.

But how more the enigmatic boy silenced about his true self, and how more and showed and didn't tell, how more she learned about him and could learn from him.

She slowly began to realise he was so much more than 'the stereotype bad boy'.

He had something she could place in herself, something human, something sensitive, something complex, something special, something of a scarred child, something that indicated he indeed had a psyche.

And it scared her in some way.

The difference between Victoria and Oliver was truly astounding: both didn't have a mother figure in their life and yet both handled the situation so differently. Victoria whined twenty-four/seven about her fucked life, and Oliver just made something of it, or at least tried. But always did Victoria get all the attention as the poor orphan girl, and always was Oliver shoved aside as the ruthless villain with no heart because he was the son of a criminal.

It was sad, but it was truth.

"You have all my respect Oliver James Black," Elsa whispered, as her fingertips moved over a photo of baby Oliver, who looked absolutely adorable with that dimple of him in his cheek. She felt bad for him he had no mother, no happy family, no balanced life.

Someone tapped her on her shoulder and she turned around. A police officer stood across from her. "I found your phone."

"Thanks," she mumbled. In no time she called the ISA international headquarter. "Hello with agent EV, may I speak to our CEO Laurence? She wanted to talk to me..."

"_Yes, I'll connect you_," Toothiana, who was reassigned to work for the ISA in New York, spoke.

Her feet trembled, her throat felt dry and she wondered what to say, how to act, how to begi - "_with Laurence Lefèvre, do I speak with Elsa Winters?" _

Her heart skipped a beat and her whole body stiffened. It looked like invisible hands were strangling her by grabbing her by her throat. "Y-yes it's me."

_"Elsa,"_ Laurence began soberly, "_in all the sixteen years that I run the ISA have I never seen this sort of stubbornness and disobedience." _Elsa bit her lip and cast her eyes down when she heard her boss' words. She'd blown it, she could pack her stuff and go, she was sure. She hadn't cooperated with her colleague; she went out on her own and got trapped into Pitch Black's pitfall. She could've been dead.

_"But I need to thank you for that." _

Elsa looked up in surprise, and shock before stammering a 'you're welcome'. Laurence continued in proud, _"you've saved the life of Victoire and gave Hans his daughter back after eleven years. Without this extreme situation he would've never told the truth." _

"You know Hans..?" Elsa asked.

_"Of course, he used to be my most appreciated agent back when he worked for me. He was a beloved man."_ She spoke about the redhead like he was dead. _"Until he quit then,"_ her boss added in slight mumbles.

"Were you friends with him?" She bit her lip when realising how spry her question was.

_"He was part of my private and business life, but I don't want to spill more about us,"_ Laurence spoke concisely.

"I understand," Elsa nodded, while swallowing. _"_But Laurence,... What about Hans? What about the truth?"

It was silent on the other side of the line till she spoke.

"_There is no truth, but he can tell you his side of the story."_

And she hung up.

* * *

**I noticed the amount of reviews kind of dropped a bit –two for the last chapter?- Am I doing things wrong? **

**Wicca is modern witchcraft. I'm about to follow it. It's everything but 'satanic'. It's beautiful! Very peaceful and loving for nature. **

_**'To her surprise did Victoria clamp herself on her.'**_

**PEOPLE HELP ME WITH THIS LINE.**


	38. Chapter XXXIII: evil

** Hi guys, I'm back. Okay so about Jack, he'll undergo surgery but we'll get to that later yas? Thanks for the reviews I appreciate it a lot! You guys make me SO HAPPY. ESPECIALLY THIS GUEST REVIEW FROM A.E. MADE ME FUCKING HAPPY AND IT HAD THIS AFTER EFFECT OF LIKE A WHOLE DAY. YAY. **

**Okay enough about my weird happiness, here's the chapter.**

**CHAPTER XXXIII: Evil**

**HANS**

Police cars drove to and fro with glaring and flickering sirens, law enforcement officers interrogated people, criminals were brought to their temporary cells, and agents walked in and out of the several Investigation Rooms.

Shortly, the police station was as busy as a beehive.

Hans entered under accompaniment of an agent the building. The smell of coffee, sins and crime hung in the air.

To his idea did the frigid handcuffs around his wrists restrain blood circulation to his hands, but he shut his mouth, and didn't complain.

He'd been through worse.

He walked with reluctance inside of the interrogation room. Four grey brick walls around a room of about seven by five enclosed him. A plain table in the middle with four chairs at it gave the dispassionate space a sober atmosphere.

Then not to talk about the Fluorescent lamp that hung above the table. It gave this cold, cheerless light that made everything look distasteful, maybe even ugly to Hans' opinion.

Once he sat down he met his reflection in the one-way mirror that hung across from him.

He knew the commissioner and about three cops were standing behind the glass wall to listen to all what was about to be spilled about the case.

He wondered if Laurence was standing behind the mirror, if she'd come from the ISA International Headquarter to here, because he knew she was currently staying in New York.

And he wondered if his former CEO was still mad with him even when he'd quit at her company eleven years ago.

**(A/N) Song: 'Things We Lost In The Fire' by Janet Devlin**

_(Intro)_

A law enforcement officer put off his handcuffs before taking place at the table. A feeling of loneliness engulfed him. He wished his daughter could be at his side and hear his story.

_There's no smoke_

_Without reason_

_It's a sign there's something wrong_

Victoria had been obtrusively silent the whole ride to the police station. She stared at the outside world with a frozen gaze, seeing how life continued undisturbed behind the car window, even when she wanted to press the 'pause' button.

_In my lungs_

_There's a poison_

_I've been breathing in to long_

She'd been staring at the life outside as if she wasn't a part of it, as if she was a ghost, a phantom. She hadn't given him a single glance. She'd only been staring with a glassy expression at the darkness of the night.

_There's no I,_

_No I in we_

All she did was looking, but never did her lips part, never did even the slightest sound escape them.

_And there's no you,_

_No you in me_

Once in a while she apprehensively cast her eyes down before quickly wiping a tear off her cheek.

_Cause I've been burned way beyond the third degree_

Frankly it was one in pain, grief and happiness all at the same time.

_Cause your words are like gasoline_

_You pour on the fire_

He knew he had to tell the whole story, from beginning to end. The time was ripe. He wanted her to hear his story, his truth.

His Eos.

**VICTORIA**

_And the bridges you burned_

_Led to our dreams_

She stared lifelessly at the table underneath her. She was sitting in an interrogation room, all alone without her father. A feeling of loneliness, apprehension, futility, and somehow even self-guilt filled her mind.

_It's just another thing that we lost_

From the outside she was silent, but from the inside she was screaming.

_When the spark turned into a flame_

_And the flames grew much higher_

They'd separated her from Hans, so she could cool down and realise what had happened, -if that was even possible-. Her mind was going crazy, insane, and she could only either cry or firmly hold her lips together.

_And my hope, faith and every last desire_

She didn't dare to face anyone in the room. Not the police officers who sat across from her, not the security in the room, let alone the one-way mirror. She felt too ashamed, too small.

_It's just another thing that we lost in the fire_

A police officer spoke, but she didn't even hear it. It was in the background, it wasn't there.

Victoria ignored her, she didn't even look up.

_Ashes fall_

_Just like snowflakes_

_That are warm against my skin_

She wanted to cry, yell, scream, put her nails in her cuts and scratch them open, she wanted to pull all the hairs out of her head, she wanted to bite her lip so hard it would bleed, she wanted to be silent.

_You say that we_

_Could re-build this_

_Wouldn't know where to begin_

Silence was all she wanted, all she could bear.

It was a sound of emptiness, darkness, no life, no movement, no beating heart, no talking, no questioning. It was just silence.

_'Cause there's no snow_

_And there's no rain_

_To hide my tears_

_To douse these flames_

It wasn't a sound, it was a moment where time froze.

Real silence, it scared her.

She'd told what Oliver did to her, but she hadn't spilled any details. She was too weak to do so.

_Cause I've been burned way beyond the third degree_

'Cause she'd been burned way beyond the third degree.

**OLIVER**

_Cause your words are like gasoline_

_You pour on the fire_

_And the bridges you burned_

_Led to our dreams_

He stared at the one-way mirror with a frozen gaze. He felt fucked, like a failure, like a glitch to the society. He was in deep trouble, he could never talk himself out of this, he couldn't tell the truth, he couldn't tell what he felt, where James had put him through.

_It's just another thing that we lost_

James, not his dad. He couldn't see him as a father, let alone his.

_When the spark turned into a flame_

_And the flames grew much higher_

There was nobody in the interrogation room and the silence shrouded him. He didn't hear a clock ticking, he didn't hear a voices, he didn't hear his heartbeat, he heard nothing.

_And to be honest he also didn't want to hear anything._

_And my hope, faith and every last desire_

_It's just another thing that we lost in the fire_

_Just another thing that we lost_

It'd been so long ago he'd heard nothing more but real silence. Usually laughter would be around him, smiles, but now he realised they had always been empty, they had been a cover for neglect, sadness. He remembered the words his dad once spoke 'people don't give, they take'.

Somehow he'd never forgotten it.

_Chasing, shadows_

_Going nowhere_

_Going nowhere_

_Round in, circles_

Popular, but no one knew him. They thought they knew, but they didn't. He wondered if he even knew it himself. He'd been wandering for almost eighteen years on earth, trying to find his place, his purpose. But every time he collapsed into a dead end.

_Nothing left to say_

He looked up to meet his reflection in the mirror. A boy with hair as dark as his own sins looked back. Oliver observed his features.

(2:42)

Beginnings of purple and broken veins dominated the area under his eyes, his square formed face made his jawline look like it could chisel granite, a grecian nose made his features look like a dominant, sly person, the cupids bow of his lips was well-formed, and a niveous glow dominated his pale complexion. It made him look bloodless.

(2:50)

He pulled the hood of his bordeaux jumper over his head. He didn't want to be recognised, he didn't want to be seen, he didn't want to exist.

_When the spark turned into a flame_

_And the flame grew much higher_

_And my hope, faith and every last desire_

He sighed heavily and buried his face in his hands. His shoulders began to jolt and he sniffed softly. The claws of loneliness seemed to grab him by his throat. He bit his lip hard and felt how the emotions flooded him like how a tsunami hit shore.

_It's just another thing that we lost in the fire_

Let the waves take him, he didn't even care anymore. He felt alone, he felt lost, he felt weak. But most of all; he felt like a little boy.

_Just another thing that we lost in the fire_

A tear escaped the corner of his eye when he realised the truth. He was a sociopath, an inhumane person, a criminal.

_Just another thing that we lost_

He was just like his father.

**HANS**

Across from him sat a male agent who was probably in his thirties. A sprite of blonde hair fell in front of his face, and a light frown lined across the man's forehead. His eyes seemed to look to gaze through, instead of at people.

The corners of the man's lips lifted for a second while both his eyebrows shot up in the air like a rocket for a millisecond, but his icy blue eyes kept radiating coldness.

Hans averted his eyes from the interrogator and consecutively cast his eyes down.

Elsa sat next to the agent. She was allowed to be present at his interrogation, since the ISA, police and the authorities cooperated. He didn't mind she was here. To be honest, he'd feel more at ease when she'd lead the examination instead of the intimidating figure that sat across from him.

Hans turned his head to the door when Victoria walked in with an agent at her side. As soon as she saw him she ran towards him. She hugged him when he was in reach. He wrapped his arms around her while whispering in her ear it was going to be alright, that they were going to be alright.

"Mrs. Leroux, sit down please," the law enforcement officer demanded authoritatively. Victoria broke reluctantly apart from him, and obediently plopped down in her chair.

Victoria stared suspiciously at the one-way mirror before cocking an eyebrow at her reflection. That little devil knew exactly what was happening behind it.

The door opened once more, and a brunette walked in. The about seventeen-year-old put a cup of coffee in front of the blonde-haired agent who sat across from Hans. "Here you are, Louis," the adolescent smiled softly. Hans noticed her Dutch accent. Peculiarly, the Dane felt nearly always at home when being in the presence of other Europeans.

"Thanks," the police agent, apparently named Louis, mumbled before he took a sip of his coffee.

"Here you are," she smiled before she put a cup of coffee in front of Elsa, who nodded in gratitude. After that the brunette left.

"Let's start..." Louis sighed while roaming through a pile of paperwork. "I'd like to begin at the beginning. History makes future doesn't it?" Louis chuckled with a certain tone Hans didn't like at all.

Louis faced him with an incisive gaze before he asked unashamedly, "did you kill you fiancée Aurelie Leroux on the sixteenth of July in 2004?" The lack of emotion was written on his deadpan face.

Hans understood interrogations like these were part of Louis' daily routine work, but it still hurt him how indifferently he spoke.

Victoria's eyes shut open, just like his, and Hans scolded indignantly in answer, "what?! No!"

A wicked smile flourished across Louis' lips in answer and his eyes shimmered in amusement. "Give me one reason why you didn't."

Victoria turned her head so quickly in her his direction that she almost got a neck hernia.

"I loved her!" he defended himself.

The man chuckled in mock. "We've heard those lines before. Come on Hans, be a bit more original and come with something credible."

"Listen I didn't shoot her!" he denied.

"Then why did you team up with Mr. Black, one of the most notorious murderers of the UK and the US?!" Louis shot resolutely back. Never had Victoria's gaze pierced so thoroughly at him in pending for her father's comeback.

"To protect my daughter! Also, you can't even say I 'killed' Aurelie, because her body has never been recovered, but -"

"A cut off fingertip, we know," Louis interrupted him with a quick nod, while his hands cupped his elbows, as his fingertips fumbled slightly with them. "But Mr. Westerguard come on, be honest with me, think logically, that's not so hard for a smart man like you, right?" Louis continued in mockery.

"Do you truly think your sweet little wifey still lives when she's missing for eleven years already?" Louis ended ruthlessly.

Hans ignored him and spoke sedately in attempt to hide the anger that was boiling inside of him like a hell fire. "Mr, do you have a wife? Children?" he began out of nowhere.

"I have a wife and two children," he answered. "But I'm fairly interested why you're in need of such information from me."

Hans ignored him. "Good. Well can you imagine it to lose all your loved ones, just because of one evening?"

Louis cocked an eyebrow upwards, as he listened attentively.

"Can you imagine it to lose all your loved ones but one person. That one person is your daughter, your everything. Would you accept the deal the criminal who shot your loved ones offers to you then?"

Louis' eyes narrowed slowly as he tilted his chin slightly, his eyes moving over Hans' being from top to bottom.

"The deal contains; quit your job, leave your daughter behind in a fire you have to put on for her, and if she survives you're not allowed to ever find her back, nor to get in contact with her on purpose. And if you do meet her you're not allowed to tell her you're her father."

Louis furrowed his eyebrows clearly in incomprehension.

Hans continued, "just as long as you do what that criminal says, as long as you work for him and help him your daughter will be save, then he won't shoot her. Would you do that huh? Would you accept that deal, just to keep her alive?"

Hans cocked victoriously an eyebrow at the agent in front of him when there fell a silence with the infinity of time.

It was clear Louis was at loss for words.

Victoria stared numbly, yet speechlessly at the table underneath her. And then not to talk about the fact he hadn't even told the whole story yet.

Louis folded his hands, which rested on the table, and spoke sedately as he forced a smile, "Mrs. Westerguard, I politely ask you to tell the whole story from beginning to end, preferably in chronological order."

He added, "But hey, if you don't want to speak we'll ask questions till you will."

Hans' lips pursed slightly while his bit the inside of his cheek.

Louis added once more, and this time with a simper," the choice is up to you."

**JAMES**

"You can't charge me for 'killing' Aurelie, or 'shooting' her; no body, no evidence, sweetheart," James shrugged his shoulders with a wicked smirk.

He added amusedly, He added amusedly, "I'm curious how you want to prove I have actually something to do with Aurelie's potential death."

The interrogator across from him snickered scornfully before she spoke. "But you did hold her kidnapped daughter in inhumane conditions in your apartment for a week. That's enough reason for me to think you do have something to do with Aurelie's potential death."

He rolled his eyes and ignored her.

The agent added, and she hovered over the table, her hand palms placed on it. "Tell me," she whispered. His eyes glided judging up and down her being, while his arms were crossed and his lips slightly pursed. "Do you have a past with Aurelie?"

James snickered scornfully as he averted his head from her, before he groaned, "huh, you should know."

**HANS**

He cleared his throat and began to tell, as asked, the whole story.

"I'm one of the first agents who was in service for the International Security Agency, and I was also one of the first agents who got the honour to meet Laurence Lefèvre, our upper CEO."

"Why did she found the ISA in the first place?" Louis asked.

"She's never told anyone why, and it doesn't look like she ever will," Hans spoke with a simple shrug. "But to continue, she wanted to see me again in 2004, when I worked for about five years for the ISA. Why did she want to see me again? Because I'd met her five years back already, so that was around 1999. She had the plan to make short shrift with our rival agency, and she wanted me to help her, but I refused -"

"Why?" Louis interrupted him once more.

"Top secret. I have obligation of confidentiality about my cases, I'm sorry," he grinned cockily.

"We cooperate with the ISA, so no excuses about 'obligation of confidentiality'," Louis groaned pissed through gritted teeth, while he balled his fist that rested on the table.

"Good. Aurelie used to tour internationally with the company as a world-famous ballerina. But she quit as a nineteen-year-old to back off to the background. She joined the ISA's rival secret service, and to answer your question, yes that's the agency Laurence wanted to get rid of."

Victoria's eyes widened. "Mum was also an agent for a secret service?!"

Hans ignored the rhetorical question of his daughter. Then Louis spoke in disbelieve and mockery, "Aurelie Leroux would never quit a company where she earned thousands of dollars a year to work for a stupid secret agency, she would never exchange her world-famous name for an alias like 'AL', and she would never throw years of training just like that aside to 'save the world from destruction'."

"Well she did," Hans defended.

"You're lying," Louis hissed while pointing at him. "Aurelie left the company because of an injury -"

"That's what everybody believes, and that's what she wanted everyone to believe," Hans fired back.

"And she quit because she was convinced there was more in life than dancing, and yes she also quit the company and her world tour because she 'wanted to save the world from destruction'. People don't always have strong motives for why they do things."

He added, "in this case Aurelie's truth is weak, but you can't call her choice 'a sin'. She did what thought was good, and I praise her for that."

**OLIVER**

He looked up and turned his head over his shoulder when the door of the interrogation room opened. A peer walked in. Her long brown hair reached over her chest and the brunette's tresses cascaded down in playful ringlets. A black dress with a U-neck, and a panel formed skirt emphasised her svelte waist.

He stared from under the hood of his sweater at the adolescent he could call for sure a lady.

She'd probably see him as a ruthless criminal, a sinner, someone who belonged behind bars. 'I'm better than that, right?' was a question that kept repeating itself in his head like a mantra.

He couldn't and didn't want to be the same like his father.

He kept staring at the adolescent. She twitched when her eyes met his. He was used to the reaction; he knew his amber-like eyes were quite intimidating at first sight.

She held her hand out. To his amusement, he noticed she trembled. He took it while half raising, as he bended over the table. "Maureen van de Linde," a heavy Dutch accent dominated her voice. He was convinced it sounded funny.

"Oliver," he groaned heartedly. He averted eye contact. It was against all his manners to introduce himself without telling his second and surname, but suddenly he felt ashamed for his full name, 'Oliver James Black'.

She sat down across from him. "They'll interrogate you within ten minutes."

His eyes shifted sharply in her direction for a moment, before averting them again, ignoring her. "And," he began with a mocking smirk, "what's your job huh? Watching me going to my cell?" he groaned not-amused before taking a sip of his coffee.

"No, I'm an intern," she shrugged. "And you're minor, the only thing you can get is a community service," this certain 'Maureen' told him complacently.

"You study jurisprudence or so?" he groaned and he cocked his eyebrow upwards.

She shook her head before simpering. "No, I just attend school regularly."

Whoa was she just dissing him?!

He cocked indignantly an eyebrow upwards and twitched lightly when she'd silenced him.

The door of the room opened once more and a law enforcement officer, a man also known as Mark, walked in with some paperwork his hands.

"Well well well Mr. Black, you're back and this time within a week. You broke your own record," he began amusedly while he took a seat across from him.

Oliver groaned humming in response. The distaste for Mark could be compared to the after taste you got in your mouth after eating garlic.

Let that say enough.

Maybe he's already had twelve interrogations with this guy after several incidents involving alcohol, drugs, fights, street racing, holding illegally dance battles, and just and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mark's eyes scanned the list of all the things he was accused of. "Okay, my colleagues just talked to your ex and she accused you of kidnapping her, rape, cutting her, putting a knife on her throat, slapping her, beating her, threatening, and telling her off."

'Okay actually this kind of got out of hand, mate,' a voice in his head whistled.

"I see we get more violent lately, don't we?" Mark grinned cockily. "I remember how they brought twelve-year-old you in for the first time ever because Mr. Black had stolen goods out of the local shop. Back then the incidents were so innocent.. Oh well time flies..." The mellifluous smile that spread across his Louis' face was in Oliver's opinion as fake as Jack's 'charming' behaviour.

Oliver's eyes rolled into the back of his sockets in answer.

"Oh and put off your hood please."

He did what he was asked to with a reluctant sigh.

Mark sighed, and a silence lingered in the air for a few seconds until he spoke. "Why did you rape your ex?"

"I didn't."

"Oh really, well we've done tests and traces of your sperm have been found back."

"Doesn't say I raped her," he fired monotonously back.

"Well I doubt it you made love with her at the time she was kept under violent and inhumane conditions in your apartment for a week," Mark spoke snarky.

He chuckled scornfully when Oliver remained silent, and bit his lip.

**HANS**

"How did you and Aurelie meet?" Louis asked.

"Simple," Hans shrugged, "the ISA and the WHPA, the agency Aurelie used to work for, have always wanted to catch the same criminals. So what did the ISA do? Laurence linked two agents, one from the ISA and one from the WHPA. At the ISA we also know it under the name 'paralleling'."

"I've heard of it," Louis murmured. "But not that I know what it contains…"

Elsa explained. "It's simple, see it as a handball game; a person of team A with for example number one constantly and always tries to disarm that one player of team B with for example number two. So even shorter said, handball player number one of team A is only fixated on handball player two of team B."

A smirk flourished across her lips when she continued. "Now we get back to real business. The ISA and the WHPA do the exact same thing. They link one of their agents to an agent of the opposite agency."

Hans nodded and took it over from her. "for example; when I got a case to catch criminal 'X' -since you can fill in anything for 'X'-," he saw in the corner of his eye Victoria rolled with her eyes when he started to involve maths in his explanation. "Then Aurelie got the exact same case to solve."

Everybody 'ahed' a bit.

"And therefore, more and more did I meet Aurelie. And slowly but certainly we began to see every time we discovered we had the same case as a competition. The one who solved it as first would win," Hans shrugged amusedly.

"After a year of chasing each other down and playing over and over again the same deadly cat-and-mouse game that didn't seem to ever come to an end, I began to wonder about her background, who she was under her facade, and I felt intrigued by her wittiness, her beauty but most of all her shrewdness."

"I'll never forget that moment I asked her on a date for the first time, it was hilarious," Hans grinned while he ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway, once we got to know each other and got past our 'hate', plus stopped playing games we opened ourselves up to each other. And before we knew we were six years, a ring, and two children further."

"And we lived happily ever after," Louis ended not amused.

Hans shot an indignant glare at him, just like Elsa.

"Till the shooting then..." Louis quickly added in a mumble.

"Where does 'WHPA' even stand for?" Victoria grumbled with crossed arms.

"World Human Protection Agency," Hans answered shortly.

Victoria laughed scornfully. "Couldn't they think of a better name?! This sounds so cliché..."

"I see we're on team ISA, Vic?" he snickered slightly.

"Ahuh."

Victoria wanted to say something, but Louis cut her off.

"Everybody knows dating a WHPA agent as an ISA agent is everything but appreciated," Louis snorted.

"I know, but not that we cared about that," Hans shrugged.

"I wonder," Louis began, and Hans could hear he was about to change the subject, "if you two matched from moment one."

Hans chucked scornfully. "Oh no, but that was more because we were influenced by prejudices. If you go to the ISA Academy the first thing they'll teach you is that any contact or relationship with an WHPA agent won't be tolerated. I was lucky as Laurence's favourite, but if I'd been some just graduated freshman I would've been fired."

"It's just commonly known they're the ISA's rival, and if Laurence wants something then it is for sure to one day take down that pathetic mess of amateurs," Hans smirked amusedly, before his tongue grazed over his teeth.

Victoria giggled.

"Doesn't the way you talk about that agency say enough?" Louis figured, and Hans cocked an eyebrow upwards in question. "That you've murdered Aurelie yourself and not some criminal like Pitch Black?"

Hans twitched in abhorrence.

Louis continued undisturbed, "why didn't you just want to take her down before Laurence would do it? Why didn't you just play games with her and faked your love for her? Why didn't you wait till she was at her weakest?"

"But why would I wait six years with it, propose her and give her her first and second child?" Hans shot resolutely back in defence. "If I'd wanted her dead I would've already shot a bullet through her head as soon as we'd met," he shrugged apathetically.

"Dad's right!" Victoria began. "And on my fourth birthday, dad and mum gave me a bracelet that says I'm conceived out of love, and that they're proud of me!" She pontifically laid her arm on the table to show the piece of art and gold.

Victoria smirked victoriously when Louis didn't answer her, simply because he couldn't object.

Louis sighed, and then jumped to yet another conversation subject to talk about.

"Now we know enough about Aurelie and you, tell me about the shooting, about Pitch Black, and how you got in contact with him."

**LAURENCE**

The upper CEO of the ISA stood behind the one-way mirror to look at James' interrogation.

Laurence observed James. His hair looked pithless, the youth had stopped to drip off his face, and the slight wrinkles were carved by age in his ashen grey skin.

Only his eyes were still exactly the same.

She listened in shock to all he said. He didn't even hesitate to tell everything. From why he'd been out for Jack and Elsa, to why he was how he was now, and to what had happened between Jack and him in the past.

Laurence had put on a headset to listen to all what happened in the room on the other side of the mirror. Next to her stood the commissary that listened as well to the interrogation.

"Why did Oliver immediately have to become Victoria's boyfriend'? Why not 'best friend'?" the interrogator asked.

"A Black doesn't make friends, they don't give love, they take it," James spoke simply as a malicious grin was spread across his face.

Laurence twitched.

"Also, how closer he'd become with her, how more she'd tell him about her fears, her insecurities, how more she'd show vulnerability, and that would make it easier for him to manipulate her, or blackmail her."

"Why didn't Oliver break up with Victoria after she'd given him the passwords of Michael? I mean, there is no reason for Oliver to keep her when the love has never been real."

"Oh, just let him toy with that naive little girl."

Laurence sharply inhaled in dismay when she heard his words, before her eyes narrowed.

"Last thing to say before you'll be taken to your temporary cell?"

The silence lingered in the air and Laurence stared at James in trance as she had her arms crossed.

The lack of emotion lingered in his voice as he spoke.

"I've never believed evil is born, it's made."

**Okay, so the next chapter will be loaded with emotions and I was crying when I wrote it so buckle up for some good drama. I hope you enjoyed this one and especially the part of sensitive Oliver. I know you guys have a love-hate relationship with him and personally I have too lol. Although there are still some of you guys who'd rather just castrate him alive. **

**Also, thanks for the support when it comes to my new story Veston Adelaide! **

**Answers to reviewers:**

**LittleTimothy: yeah I get what you mean, but this needs to come first. Next chapter is hella important and then we'll get to Jack. **

**Madison: thankssss for the advice! Do you have Facebook or so? 'Cause you're a cool kid I swear. HAHAHA crazy theory yes, and I get what you mean but it's not possible because Aurelie is Victoria's mother and Aurelie was engaged with Hans…Still I kinda ship Hans and Laurence but yet totally not. Well they used to be best friends before Hans quit the ISA but yeah.. Still, thanks for the amazing theory. Next chapter will be like filled with emotion and this was only a sneak peek of the true drama…**

**AnthroDragon: I'm in literal tears. You make my day.**

**A.E.: Nahw you're soo sweetttt. And yeah about the cycle it's killing me kind of as well. And nawh you cried. Haha I manipulate feelings, I take it as a compliment in this context :D. to be honest, me too. Oliver and Victoria are fucking made for each other. They're my OC OTP of this story I guess. But look, this is kind of a draft version of the trilogy I'm writing. I want to publish this shit for real but then with the names changed, the grammar mistakes out, the plot holes fixed and yeah. I mean it you wont recognise the book once you read the official version.**

**This fanfiction is so long that it are just two books actually. I'm about to write part III. So yeah maybe one day if I publish this you can buy the trilogy on Amazon and find out how the sequel goes and how they all end. Also, I write far better than I do here on :') **

**AHHAHAHAHA that last sentence. Love you. **


	39. Chapter XXXIIII: blood

**Hey guys, here's a new -long- chapter! Sorry about that 'long' thing by the way. **

**Oh and get some tissues, it's time to bawl your eyes out if I did my job well :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER XXXIIII: blood**

**OLIVER**

"Oliver just admit you abused your ex, just tell the whole story and believe me you'll be free before you know it," Mark explained helpfully. "You help us, we help you." You saw this guy rarely making these kinds of offers, and because of that Oliver felt his suspicion rise.

"Give me one reason why I should trust you," Oliver hissed with narrowed eyes.

"James is as much my enemy as he's yours," Mark stated soberly.

Mark's words echoed disturbingly long, almost gong-like in his head, and the shrewd interrogator smiled in amusement when he managed to silence the troublemaker.

"Please, just help us." Mark's voice sounded astonishingly nice.

Oliver cast his eyes down in answer. The tears burned in his eyes, but he refused to let them roll down his cheeks, he refused to sob, to sniff, to show him he had feelings. Because every time he did his dad would always make sure he'd beat the hell out of him.

Mark seemed agitated when noticing his watery eyes when he looked up. "My dad will kill me if I tell you guys the truth." It happened rarely his voice sounded so hoarse, so croaky.

"No he won't; no one can kill his or her own child," Mark objected.

"Huh then you don't know my dad," Oliver chuckled scornfully, before he averted his head for a moment before turning it back to Mark.

"That can be, but let's keep the subject with you and not your father. Are you going to confess or deny? Once you confess the police will make sure your dad won't be able to harm you."

"And then what, huh? When my dad's in jail," Oliver groaned mockingly. "Where can I live? I have no mother, my grandmother lives in Wales, England, my grand stepdad is murdered by my own father, my real granddad is nowhere to be seen, and I have no aunts or uncles because my dad's an only child."

"We'll find a foster home for you -"

"So I'll end up at people like Mr. and Mrs. Smith? No thank you I can handle myself," Oliver insisted him with narrowed eyes.

"You're seventeen. When it comes to the law you're an adult at the age of eighteen -"

He rolled his eyes and defended himself. "My birthday is in a week."

"Cool, then you'll celebrate your birthday in jail."

Oliver's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat when realising the judge would condemn him as an adult. "B-but I don't want to go there," he stammered.

"Should've thought of that before you did what you did," Mark shrugged cockily. "Well I do know a way of getting you acquitted out of here, but I don't think you'll take the offer anyway…" he sang thoughtfully.

"No, tell me," Oliver demanded, while he tilted his chin in a slight nod.

**JAMES**

Two people of the security handcuffed him before they'd bring him to his temporary cell. He stared expressionlessly forward. In all probability would his verdict be the death penalty, but he should be happy with that. Everything was better than ending up in some Alcatraz jail till your death.

Just when security wanted to open the door to lead him away, an old acquaintance of him walked in.

Her jet black hair fell over her right shoulder, and her almond shaped chestnut pigmented eyes stared incisively at him. Her complexion was as pale as his and his son's. Her flair hadn't left her, even not after all those years.

The corners of his lips curved amusedly into a charming, yet wicked simper, and he lifted his chin as his eyes gave her all his attention.

The hate burned in hers for determining her future in the past, and for once appearing in her life to turn it upside down. Because of that they were now standing as enemies across from each other.

They could've been lovers.

"Laurence," James began before he swallowed, his eyes slightly casting down but then he faced her with a mocking simper to continue amusedly.

"It's been seventeen years."

**OLIVER**

"Just tell me the truth from A to Z and we'll try to help you yeah?" Mark offered once more.

Oliver nodded in response, knowing he had no other choice.

"Okay good, well let's hold a quick break. I'll be back in thirty minutes." Mark raised from his chair and exited the room.

* * *

"I just listened to the recordings of James' interrogation," Mark began soberly, and Oliver sighed when realising he had to sit down for yet another hour. "And he's told us he wanted to kill Jack, his former best friend who betrayed him in his eyes. To get the attention of the ISA he stole seven million dollars from the Smiths. And indeed, Jack, as one of the most successful and loved agents of the ISA of the US, was sent to solve this case in cooperation with Elsa Winters. Any comments, or objections after all what I said now?" Mark spoke amusedly.

Oliver ignored him. He gnashed his teeth and faced the table underneath him before he groaned. "My dad is a cunning little rat."

Mark furrowed his eyebrows in incomprehension. Oliver clarified; "He could choose: or stalk down his victim -in this case Jack- and viciously murder him -like he always does-, or drain seven million dollars off a bank account from a wealthy person so the ISA would sent the agent he wanted to murder to New York to solve the case. Because of this plan he would get his money and his victim."

Mark nodded quickly in response, and then informed, "I'll tell you the story your father told us. Once again, you better tell us everything you know, speak the truth, and correct me if I tell the things the wrong way, because it can keep you out of jail."

Oliver nodded so softly that he was sure it was unnoticeable. He groaned, "Jack and Elsa were so stupid to not see the fact the money missing was a plan behind a plan."

"What do you mean?"

"When money was missing everybody, also Elsa and Jack of course, thought that someone was just out on the wealth of Lewis and Katherine, but there was a deeper story, there was a true reason why he stole the money; to lock his victim Jack to New York so he could kill him off."

"A plan behind a plan," Oliver shrugged after his explanation.

Mark gave him a quick nod, and continued, "to drain money off Michael's bank account he needed the passwords. He had two plans -"

"No he had one," Oliver corrected Mark.

"Ever heard of Liam Evans, James' henchman, and the phishing mail?"

"Yes, I heard of Liam, but I haven't heard something about a phishing mail."

Mark raised his eyebrow noticeably. "Then you'll get to hear that story another time but for now I'll tell the plan where you were involved in."

Oliver didn't have the need to hear the story, he already knew it of course for God's sake but he let Mark speak.

"Hans, as James' right hand, would get into contact with the Smiths to become Lewis' financial advisor. Because of that he would come in perfect position to get Lewis' money in hands. Hans studied Economics before the ISA crossed his path, so no wonder he was simply _the_ person your dad needed to make the plan work. Next to the fact Hans was Lewis' financial advisor he also became close friends with the family."

Oliver added, "Hans would become Lewis' financial advisor so he could steal the passwords out of Lewis' safe, but he was smart enough to know that if the ISA would interfere itself with it -what the plan was- that he would become a very suspect person."

"Indeed, because of that he eventually refused to steal the passwords and the plan was cancelled. Hans needed a job of course and he liked it to help Lewis, so he kept being his financial advisor. But because Hans suddenly refused to follow your dad's orders James had to think of another plan. A plan that involved his son, you." Apparently Mark spoke scrupulously every detail. "The Smiths had no kids, but not so long after Hans refused to steal the passwords they adopted a fifteen-year-old, Veronique or how everybody generally knows her, Victoria."

"Exactly. My dad got the plan to use her instead of Hans, but the question was how," Oliver mumbled in a low groan. As he spoke he averted his gaze from Mark and he stared down. When he spoke his word 'how', his gaze drew back to Mark.

"And then you stepped forward to volunteer. Why?"

A silence lingered in the air after Mark's words. Then he spoke. "I could prove to my dad I _am_ worth something, that I'm not useless..." His voice got a rough edge at the end of his sentence. "I'm an unwanted child in his eyes, something that shouldn't even exist…" Oliver whispered in neglect.

"Why'd you think that?"

"I'm kind of the result of a one-night stand," Oliver mumbled heartedly.

"Okay so if I get this right," and Mark immediately got back to business -so to see he wanted to stop working at five P.M. instead of eight-. "After you volunteered there was a plan again," he concluded. Oliver nodded softly. "Even when your dad was mad with Hans, James let him find out what Victoria's passions were and where she went to school so you could meet her in the most innocent way. It turned out she did ballet and also held it a secret. It was gruesomely perfect to blackmail her with that as soon as you would ask for the passwords of the bank account of her foster dad."

Oliver wanted to speak 'yes', but Mark kept talking, "then the plan was made. You hip-hopped at the same dance school as her and what proved? Victoria's ballet lessons ended right before your hip-hop lesson would start, a perfect and harmless chance to meet her."

"Even if I didn't have a dad who had these dark plans with her, our paths would've crossed anyway… It was all meant to be," he sighed moaning.

"Still I smell an overdose of coincidence," Mark shrugged indifferently.

"Huh, my dad didn't need some stupid coincidence to let his plan work," Oliver chuckled scornfully. "If she wouldn't have followed ballet lessons at Alvin Allan Dance Academy, dad would've sent me to the same school as her -"

"What if she would reject you?"

"Why would she?" Oliver chuckled cockily. "I gave that ungrateful little bitch everything she needs in her short miserable life; rules, structure, and love."

Mark impassively stared at him in silence. Then, he spoke again to continue undisturbed his story. "After about five months of being in a relationship with her you began to ask for the passwords of the bank account of her foster dad, Lewis Smith. It was the one and only reason why you dated her, the one and only reason why you used her. Because of one and only reason you were willing to break her heart just like that -"

"Victoria as a girl with the attitude of a Disney princess was so desperate for love, you should've seen her," Oliver interrupted Mark. "She was just simply asking for someone who had to let her know how the real world works."

"Please let me speak," Mark shushed him while raising his hand to silence him. "If she wouldn't do what you said, you would tell all her secrets to Lewis and Katherine. But now I wonder with what you would've blackmailed her with if she hadn't kept her passion for ballet a secret or if she wouldn't have cut herself," Mark snorted before he sipped some of his coffee.

"Just put a knife on the person's throat and you'll be surprised how fast he or she finally does what he or she should do," Oliver shrugged amusedly in a sadistic tone.

**HANS**

"So, four years later in 2004, which was the year of the shooting, Laurence needed me for something else. And so she gave me, as her best agent and good friend, another case. It was one that meant a lot for her apparently," Hans continued calmly.

Hans clarified his mission, "She commissioned me to kill Pitch Black, or at least get him behind bars."

The police officer nodded slightly, his fingers clasped under his chin. "So that's how you got into contact with James for the first time," Louis concluded.

"No, I'd been out on him before, but never did I get the chance to catch him. When I got the order to solve the case I happily lived with my fiancée Aurelie and four-year-old daughter in San Francisco. Around November our second child, a girl, would be born."

Victoria was silent and stared at the table underneath her. He understood it was a weird idea for her to have a sister, because she'd thought her whole life she was the only child he and Aurelie had.

"I did what I was asked to and well after an investigation that lasted for over a month I found his hiding place, but guess what? He caught me and I was in deep trouble. He held me in his apartment for a week in the same way he did with Eloise and Victoria; tied down to the ground and defenceless."

He stopped a moment and tried to get the memory back.

"My only solace was five-year-old Oliver who always came into the room when his dad didn't look," Hans snickered softly. "He's always been a rebel."

"And a sociopath..." Victoria added scornfully in a mumble.

"Victoria, Oliver was a funny little guy, trust me. He loved to hear the stories I told him about you."

**OLIVER**

A photo of a dagger was shoved under his nose.

"Tell me," Mark spoke. "Do you recognise this knife? As you can see it has a Wiccan pentagram on the blade. We found it -bloodied- on the floor in the room where Victoria and Eloise were captured for a week."

"Yeah I recognise it," he confessed.

"Is it yours?" Mark asked soberly.

He nodded while biting his lip, and he kept staring at the photo that the investigators had made.

"Where did you get it from?"

Oliver didn't answer Mark, and bit in the inside of his cheek before he slightly pursed his lips and averted eye contact.

Mark continued undisturbed. "Victoria claims you put it on her throat and cut her arms and back with it."

And once more did Oliver ignore him. "The knife was presumably also used by James to cut off Aurelie's fingertip," Mark ended soberly, even though his voice lowered in irritation, now Oliver still didn't answer him.

"My father isn't some 'Jack the Ripper'." Oliver rolled his eyes.

Mark amusedly raised his eyebrow, to Oliver's annoyance. He ranted, "Jack the Ripper killed people, mostly prostitutes with no legit reason as far as people know. His sins truly are 'as dark as the Nyx', just like my dad's are actually, but my dad has a truth, a story to tell and he has motives why he did what he did. His Eos is brighter than his Nyx and that makes him not a villain! All he did was trying to cope with his miserable life that went in every way but the way he wanted to!" Oliver protested.

"You choose yourself where you end up in life, whom you're going to be and apparently your dad chose to be the criminal he is today. It was a choice, not a path he had to follow," Mark spoke cockily with a shrug.

"The same rules for you. You can't put the blame on your dad for pushing you to do what you did. If you would've been determined enough, and if you would've known what your morals are, you just would've just taken your distance from him."

"That's a bit hard when you don't know any better than having a parent who's an infamous criminal, don't you think so?" Oliver raised his voice more and more in defence. "Also, I dare you to try to back off out of a plan that can prove your dad you're not worthless."

A silence lingered in the air and somehow he was glad Mark didn't answer him.

"But where did you get the knife from?" Mark was known to be a quite relentless soul.

"Dad gave it to me," Oliver shrugged apathetically, averting eye contact. He felt the gazes of the police agents behind the one-way mirror just burning in his back even though he couldn't see them.

"When?"

"When I was thirteen or so," he shrugged. "He didn't do a single thing with it anymore, it just lied there in his bed stand, you know. I decided to give the thing a purpose again and grabbed it when dad was out of sight."

He bit his lip when realising he'd misspoken himself and Mark immediately stated in an amused tone, "oh so you stole it?" The man's eyes widened in fake surprise.

"Yes," he sighed heavily.

"What did you do with the dagger once you got possession of it?"

"I carried it everywhere with me so if people would try to mess with me I could make an end to it," Oliver hissed in a low tone.

"Make an end to the playing games with you, or make an end to them?" Mark raised his eyebrow suspiciously.

"Make an end to them will also make an end to the playing games with me so that question is irrelevant," Oliver simpered shrewdly before he sipped some of his coffee.

Mark groaned but then he spoke. "I want an answer on my question."

"What?" He looked up. "You think I murder people? You really think I'm that sick in my head?" Oliver indignantly hissed.

"Well there was a rumour you killed your ex when she was missing... Why do you think people would think that? Give me one reason why they would suspect you."

"Because that bitch still owned me some good amount of money -"

"For what did she need it?"

"And our relationship wasn't at its best when she got missing," he ended, just talking through Mark's talking. "May I once just tell my story without getting interrupted? Thanks."

Oliver gave an answer to Mark's latest question. "She used my XTC, and well we're all familiar with the fact those things don't grow on trees, so yes they cost money."

"No wonder people thought that was for you a perfect motive to kill her, to take your vengeance on her," Mark shrugged.

"Just because I'm the son of Pitch Black doesn't say I'm the same as him," and once more he rolled his eyes into the back of his head.

"Do you look like your mother?" Mark asked almost nicely, probably because he hadn't mentioned her at all, but only his dad.

"How can I know?! That bitch left me when I was a baby," Oliver shrugged not amused.

"Do you have something of her? A photo? A-"

"Necklace? Ahuh." His hand glided under his shirt and he revealed a metal pentagram that hung on a string. In the circle that connected all the points of the pentagram was his Celtic name 'Ravi' engraved.

"Can I see it?"

"I never take it off," he shrugged stubbornly with a cocky smile.

"Well today is an exception. Give it to me," Mark demanded while snapping his fingers. Begrudgingly, he pulled the necklace over his head and he threw the metal thing on the table with a cling.

It was the first time in years he'd taken it off, because he even took it with him in the shower.

Mark observed the object with squinted eyes. "Doesn't the fact you never take it off silently tells me you do give a shit about 'that bitch' that left you when you were a baby?"

"And even if I did, what does it have to do with for why I'm sitting here? I mean I'm here to explain my sins not a cry story of a 'poor me'," he shrugged.

"I know how it is to be rejected," Mark spoke laconically, ignoring his silent plead to move on and talk about something different.

Oliver fiercely looked up to face him in mock, his eyes igneous. "You?!" he spat. "You think you know? What a joke. You don't know how it is to be rejected, you don't know what rejection is in the most cruel form. It's the rejection of your own bloody mother who doesn't want you because you're a mistake that should've never existed. Then, huh then you know what rejection is for God's sake."

"Why don't you talk about it with someone?"

"Why would I? You can't trust anyone... Anyone but yourself," he groaned pessimistically.

There fell a short silence.

"You're intelligent Oliver, you speak wisely," Mark noticed. Oliver gave a soft nod in gratitude for the compliment. Mark, as his true arch-rival, gave him a quick smile before again handing him his necklace over. Oliver pulled it over his neck and he felt glad it hung back where it belonged.

"Well where did we get off track?" Mark sighed. "Oh yes at the part where you would blackmail Victoria so she would steal the codes."

"After she did what you asked her to do, your job was practically done. But now my question is, after you'd helped your dad and 'proved' him you're worth it, that you aren't useless, did he begin to give you the attention you wanted from him?"

Oliver cast in aghast his eyes down when realisation hit him. It felt as if a knife cut in his heart, carved a new, fresh scar in his old ones, it felt destroying. No words could escape his lips, it hurt too much. The taciturnity seemed to grab him by his throat.

"N-no," he stammered.

"Then why did you still follow his orders when he said you had to cut, rape and slap Victoria? I'm interested what made you do it in the end."

"Just... Fear… of being disobedient," he mumbled heartedly.

"That's not the true fear, no what you truly feared was that he'd slap you if you were being disobedient," Mark corrected him.

"Maybe an odd question, but what is your greatest fear?" Mark continued curiously and he clasped his fingers under his chin.

"My greatest fear?" Oliver chuckled in mockery.

"Yes, your fear, what would you do, or how would you react if it would come true?"

"Huh how would you react when I tell you my greatest fear has already come true?"

**HANS**

Hans spoke, "I was as mentioned captured in James' apartment and I obviously couldn't go anywhere. I thought about Aurelie who was all alone with four-year-old Victoria at home. I couldn't let them down, I had to get back as soon as possible."

"So once more, my only entertainment was five-year-old Oliver, who'd been listening in full interest to all I told him about Victoria. His gaze was a thing I'll never forget, it was filled with desire, neglect. I could see he desperately wanted to feel the love Victoria got, wanted to feel that family feeling, but never was the envy written in his eyes, no he granted her the attention he missed." Hans spoke in full praise about the boy, a thing from which he knew Victoria couldn't understand.

"So Oliver always sneaked away to me when his father didn't look, but once James discovered it, he immediately made -with the needed violence- an end to it. I'll spare you the details, but I can tell you that Oliver has never had it easy living with a sociopathic man like James," Hans spoke seriously with a woeful sigh.

"James asked me what I'd said to his son. I told him the truth, that I told Oliver about how happy I was, how grateful to have a girlfriend like Aurelie and a daughter like Victoria. James listened to all what I said; he let me speak without interruptions, a thing that surprised me," Hans spoke thoughtfully.

He continued, "I begged him to let me go, but James had his objections and turned my pleads down. Then, I did a last attempt in utter desperation; I told him Aurelie was pregnant of our second child. I begged and cried, I'd try everything so he'd let me go."

_There fell a silence after Hans' words. The tears burned in his eyes, and when he shut them a tear rolled down his cheek. He missed his family, he wanted to be reunited with them, feel them again, smell the scent of his Aurelie, because she had this scent, this ethereal perfume that just belonged to her, her smile and her charm. Victoria always said 'mama scent' was the best scent in the entire world. _

_She was damn right. _

_"Please, I beg you," Hans whispered. "Do you know how it feels when your child gets taken from you, when your family gets taken from you?" _

_"You should know," James said heartedly, his eyes casting down to the floor. Even though his face had lack of showing emotion, his aura didn't._

_"__Please, help the heart of a broken father, and let me go!" Hans pleaded, and the tears rolled down his cheeks._

_James sighed heavily and lightly scratched one of his eyebrows while raising both of them, since he was lost in thoughts. Then he parted his lips and spoke the redeeming words, "good." Then, the deal turned into a warning: "but on one condition: if you return to the ISA, and betray me by telling North about my hiding place, you'll pay for it with the life of your family."_

_James approached him and knelt to the ground. Without a warning he grabbed Hans by the collar of his shirt and jerked him forward. _

_The sinner hissed in his ear, "I warn you, Westerguard, don't play games with me, because I know where to find you and your family." _

"If I would shut my mouth nobody would get hurt. But I didn't and told everything to my boss Laurence. That same week her agents did a raid in his hiding place, but he'd fled away – because he was obviously prepared for betrayal- and so he knew yet another time how to dodge the ISA. I think when he returned to his apartment he knew exactly what'd happened, and he was ready to take his vengeance."

"I was prepared for it, and so I called Laurence in desperation to tell her I was scared for a vendetta. She made sure me and my family were safe, but that lasted for only a month. The week after the security of the police expired James took his vengeance anyway."

"He came to your house," Louis concluded, and Hans nodded. "Tell me about the shooting, from beginning to end please."

_"Hans why -" _

_"Please listen to me Aurelie and do what I say, I beg you," Hans whispered pleadingly, while he put his hands on her shoulders and looked incisively in her eyes. _

_"Go to the secret closet in the living room and hide in it with Victoria," he continued. When Aurelie and him bought the house the former owners had showed them a hidden built-in-closet behind the wall of the living room. _

_"__When you're safe, I'll get both of you out of it," he promised. _

_Again did someone knock on the front door and he knew it was James, ready to take every living soul to the purgatory. His heart skipped a beat and the sweat broke him out._

_He wanted to protect his family but he didn't know how. It was too late to run upstairs and get his gun, it was too late to call Laurence or the police for help, it was too late to hide, too late to go back in time. _

_Aurelie sighed, before nodding and she whispered, "good." _

_"I love you," he whispered, before he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the side of her head. _

_Aurelie's shoulders jolted, and she sobbed in his chest. "I'm so scared, Hans." _

_"Don't be, everything will be alright." But he only said it to convince himself. "Now go please!" he begged, while wiping the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. _

_Aurelie nodded and gave him a kiss before taking her daughter's hand in hers. "Come," she whispered to her four-year-old petite. _

_"But mama!" Victoria wailed, while Aurelie and her walked to the closet. "What are we going to do?" _

_"Just..." Aurelie stopped walking, and turned around to face her daughter, who furrowed her eyebrows in incomprehension. Aurelie lowered to the ground and placed both of her hands on the sides of Victoria's shoulders. "Listen petite, mama, your little sister," she laid a hand on her seven-month baby bump, "and you are going to play hide and seek, and the man who's standing at the door right now is the seeker."_

_Victoria's eyes widened in excitement. Late night games were her absolute favourite._

_"__But this time you need to play it at your best, okay?" Hans ran his hand through Victoria's hair and also lowered to the ground, while taking her little hands in his._

_"__That's true," Aurelie nodded. "We have to be very silent. Do not speak as loud as my heart we're safe."_

_Several tears silently rolled down her cheeks and within seconds did Victoria ask, "why are you crying, mama?" _

_"Because mama is scared," Aurelie confessed whispering, while she caressed her daughter's cheek. His girlfriend slowly raised again, and took once more her daughter's hand in hers before walking over to the closet. _

_Hans grabbed the brass key that gave access to the closet. In the key was 'mon cœur, 'mon âme, mon amour' engraved. He opened the door, and both Aurelie and Victoria sat down on the bottom as quick as they could. _

_"__Be strong," he whispered, and with these words he closed the closet door before locking the two up so James wouldn't be able to get them. _

_Once more, his heart skipped a beat and he felt everything in him squirming in the most unpleasant way he knew when James knocked on the door, but this time harder. _

_Hans' eyes shut and he trembled all over the place. _

_He'd rather not open the door, but he knew if he wouldn't let Pitch in he'd be on the criminal's blacklist for sure. _

_With a heavy heart he walked to the front door, and opened it. _

_"I'm back," James sang triumphantly while quickly making some jazz hands on the height of just above his hips. A deterrent grin spread across his face as he spoke. _

_Hans stood numbly in the doorway, not knowing what to do. _

_James grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and jerked him to his face, which came dangerously close now. The criminal added hissing, "to make a nightmare of a dream." _

_James let go of him, and spoke once more. "Well, are you going to let me in, or do I need to invite myself?" _

_He couldn't do more but obey: if he wouldn't James in, he would shoot him, and Hans was the only one with the keys of the secret closet. Aurelie and Victoria would 't be able to escape, they would perish out of starvation. _

_He opened the front door further open to let James in. His eyes shut in agony when the sinner walked past him. James turned around, and demanded, "where are they?" _

_"Who? Aurelie and Victoria?" Hans asked obliviously. "Oh they're gone. Lilly wanted to visit her grandparents who live in Côte d'Azur." _

_"__Don't play games with me Westerguard, I warn you," James' eyes meticulously narrowed as he spoke._

_Hans firmly bit his lip, but eventually sighed before confessing with closed eyes, "they're here." Immediate regret struck him like lightning. _

_"Where?" _

_"Go and search for them," Hans shrugged innocently._

_"I don't play hide and seek, now tell me where are they!" James groaned pissed off before he grabbed his Semi-Automat. Hans raised his hands in a surrendering way when James raised the firearm to aim it at him. _

_He whispered croaky, "they're in the secret closet...in the living room." He felt like a fool for betraying both Aurelie and Victoria, and he shamed himself deeply. _

_James quickly narrowed his eyes in a glare before making his way to the living room, as he loaded his gun. _

_"Victoria," James sang in a high-pitched tone, which was filled with innocence. _

_"Victoria, don't react!" Hans warned her, raising his voice. He tried not to look in the direction of the hidden closet, and so he stared forward._

_James shushed him, while raising his had to silence Hans before pricking up his ears when he heard something. Muffled sobs and 'mama je suis peur' could be heard. "They're right behind this wall," James groaned, before he turned his head to Hans. _

_James' hand glided over the near wall, and stopped walking when his fingertips brushed over the random keyhole in it._

_"Give me the key," he ordered. _

_Hans' hand glided in his pocket, and he gave the brass key to James. As he did he begged him to stop, but the criminal showed no mercy. _

_James noticed the engraving in the key, and a devious smirk spread across his lips. "'Mon cœur, mon âme, mon amour', nawh how cute," James read out loud with an amused grin before he put the key in the keyhole. _

_The closet opened with a flourish, and the horrifying sight Hans got made him twitch._

_Aurelie sat curled up in the back corner of the closet, holding her daughter on her lap. Lilly's arms were protectively wrapped around their little girl, while she closed her eyes firmly. Several tears in agony escaped the eyes of both his fiancée and daughter._

_Aurelie's eyes opened and she gasped breathlessly, "James," her eyes widening. "Please, don't do this out of envy or jealousy -" _

_"Still remember me, Lilly?" James smirked maliciously. Aurelie could only numbly nod with widened eyes, at loss for words. _

_He came closer and Aurelie coiled even more backwards in the closet, while Victoria began to cry wrenchingly. "And no, I don't do this out of envy, neither out of jealousy, but out of vengeance." _

_"Triggered by love," he added mockingly with narrowed eyes. He aimed his gun at Victoria, and Aurelie's eyes widened in panic. _

_"Don't shoot her, I beg you!" Aurelie begged, while she reached her hand out as a sin to stop him. "Ne fais pas ça, je t'en prie," she whispered in French. _

_Victoria's under lip trembled, and tear after tear ran down her cheeks while staring at James in horror. James saw it, and he approached her before lowering down to the floor. _

_"__My, my, my what a tears," he spoke in acted compassion, while affably caressing her cheek. James shushed her when she began to wail unintelligible words in agony and he added, "don't be scared my love, I won't shoot you."_

_Victoria looked up in question, and Aurelie sighed in relief. _

_But then he added cunningly, "but your mother."_

_He grabbed Victoria by her arm and jerked her out of the closet. She fell on the floor and let out a cry in pain, before raising to run to Hans who lowered to the ground, and Victoria instantly ran into his arms. She wrenchingly cried in his chest and he tried to calm her down, but it was a lost case._

_"James, please!" Aurelie begged, her eyes rapidly darting from gun hole to James' eyes, constantly back and forth. She was harrowingly crying while wrapping protectively her arms around her seven-month baby bump. _

_James raised his gun and aimed it at her, his hands trembling. Victoria clamped herself on Hans, who could do nothing but watch how James averted his head before pulling the trigger. _

_A last yell of his fiancée echoed through the room, before her body fell out of the closet to roll a meter over the floor before making a stop._

_Victoria yelled as hard as she could 'MAMA!', the tears streaming down her cheeks, while Hans fell on his knees, his face buried in his hands. _

_It felt as if the claws of death ripped his heart out of his body, as if the moon and sun had stopped loving each other, as if the ocean had stopped making its waves, and as if the sky fell from the heavens._

_He'd lost his Aurelie, and it was his fault, it was all his fault, nobody could beat around the bush about that. _

_It wasn't a victim thought, but the gruesome truth._

_James lowered his gun, and turned his head to Aurelie to see how many damage his Semi-Automat had caused. He'd shot her in her diaphragm, just above her baby bump. A crimson bloodstain arose in her clothes, and it became worse with every second that passed. Her long auburn locks were spread over the ground, her eyes shut, and she didn't move anymore. _

_James whispered with a woeful sigh something in Welsh, before he took his distance from her._

_Hans ran to Aurelie and he instantly fell down to his knees. He covered his nose with his hands when he saw what a bullet could do to a loved one. She was still alive, but she was weak. _

_His arms wrapped around her bloodied body, and he pulled her closely to his chest. He wanted to pull her out of the claws of death, but he didn't know how and it frustrated, yet angered him. _

_He tightly hugged her while kissing her on he crown of her head. The whispered words 'sorry Lilly, I'm so sorry,' kept escaping his lips, even though he knew it was too late for apologising. The damage was already done._

_In endless tears and desperation he begged whispering for her life, but it felt as if the Box of Pandora had been emptied. _

_Because this time the hope had also left, it was gone. _

_He sobbed in her hair, while he kept kissing her scalp, kept hugging her and whispering he was sorry. He hoped she could hear it, even in this state of weakness. He realised this was probably the last time he could hold her, kiss her, tell her he loved her and that she would be able to hear it. _

_Victoria put her hand in her mother's and she stared with a trembling under lip at Aurelie in affliction, before she cast her eyes down. Her little hands were drained in blood when they moved over her mother's bloodied clothes._

_A drip of crimson blood balanced on the edge of falling off one of Victoria's fingertips. His daughter stared wide-eyed at it before she once more looked down at her mother, who was losing more and more blood. _

_He quickly covered her eyes with his hands and pulled her close, so she didn't have to see this state of suffer, so she would be spared of the blood, of the trauma she would get, but it was all too late. _

_Victoria sobbed, "b-but papa! I don't want her to…" she couldn't end her sentence._

_'Die'. It was a shame his four-year-old daughter had to use the horrific word. _

_They both looked up in shock when hoarse whispered words escaped Aurelie's lips. "I love you, Hans," she smiled softly. "And you, my little one," she began and her slightly opened eyes moved to her daughter. Her hand reached out for her Victoria's cheek. "I love you as well. Stay strong without me."_

_"No! Stay with me, with dad!" Victoria begged, the tears helplessly streaming down her cheeks. She hugged her mother tightly while crying in her chest. "I don't want to lose you," she whispered, her face twitching in her sobs._

_Aurelie kept caressing her daughter's cheek while softly shushing her. She hummed 'Once Upon a December', and Victoria shut her eyes to hear her mother's ethereal singing._

_Then, Aurelie's body slackened, and her hand slid away in weakness. Victoria looked up and her eyes widened. _

_"__Don't let me go," she begged, and with these words her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her eyelids shut, her head hung backwards, and before he knew it she lifelessly hung in his arms. _

_"Mama, open your eyes," Victoria demanded in panic, but Aurelie didn't move, neither showed a sign of life. "Mama!" she begged and she began to shake Lilly. _

_"Mama, ouvrez vos yeux, s'il vous plaît!" Victoria repeated in French in an angry tone. The tears fell onto her mother's body, and all Hans and her could do was kneel next to the body of Aurelie. "Mama," Victoria cried out. "Come back." _

_"Come here min elskede," Hans whispered and he pulled his daughter closely to his chest. Together they cried an ocean, they cried till there were no tears left, they cried till they could see their own reflection in their tears. Victoria clamped herself on him, as her hand was placed on his heart. _

_While Victoria mourned, his hand glided to Aurelie's. Cautiously, he took her proposal ring off her ring finger and let it glide into his pockets. He couldn't let it perish along with her, he had to save it, even when it'd gotten a dark glow of sins after this evening. _

_Hans turned his head over his shoulder in discomfort to see what James was doing, because he didn't trust the criminal. _

_James stood with his back to him and Victoria, his face buried in his hands. _

_Then he recovered himself, and his hand moved to his gun again before turning around._

_This time his eyes were fixated on Victoria._

* * *

**Thank you for the awesome reviews, guys! But this is already a 7k chapter so I'll answer them per PM ****J****Also, I'm crying. This chapter was so sad. And HEY new information about Oliver :D And James and Laurence. Any idea what could've happened? ;) Tell me your theories.**


	40. Chapter XXXV: deal

**Hey guys, I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I've just been very busy with a secret project you'll hear more about in the near future...**

**Also, I edited this super fast so sorry for the typos, glitches and other things that don't make sense or whatever more. **

**But do know I did this at 01:00 and I just have school tomorrow :)**

**You see how much I love you guys? **

**XXX - Irene**

**CHAPTER XXXV: deal**

**HANS**

Hans sobbed his eyes out after he was half-way done telling about the shooting. He had his face buried in his hands, and his shoulders uncontrollably jolted, just like his chest.

"I still get nightmares from it," he cried out between his sobs. "Every night, every single night I'm remembered of the fact I'm responsible for my fiancée's death," he whispered in heartbreak. "My fiancée's and our baby's."

"She didn't even get the chance to live, to breathe, to get love and actually feel it. Maybe that hurts even more, knowing you're responsible for that as well," he sniffed. He moved his sleeve past his cheeks to wipe the tears off them.

"I'm sure she knew from the beginning she was loved," Elsa objected in a soft voice, and she put her hand on his.

Hans continued wistfully, "and when I thought my greatest nightmare had come true, the evening became even worse."

_The tears ran down his cheeks. His drooping shoulders jolted, and he cried till he didn't even know how to cry anymore, till there were no tears left, till he finally had an answer on the question 'what can heal my broken heart'._

_He sealed Aurelie's lips with a last kiss and as he did, one of the tears that silently rolled down his cheek fell on hers. She lifelessly hung in his arms when they broke apart._

_Her eyes were peacefully closed, even when a touch of violence had kissed her._

_Gravity made her head hang backwards. A pastel pink rose had cried its rich pigment on her cheeks, so rosy were they._

_"I had to be the one in your place, Lilly." His hoarse sounded hoarse, croaky. It was just like his heart: broken._

_"Papa!" He looked up when the cry for help, originating from his daughter, made his heart skip a beat in fear. He didn't understand what was happening, since not even a moment ago she'd been at his side._

_He turned his head over his shoulder and to his horror James pulled Victoria with him, in the direction of the corridor. "Papa!" Her voice sounded as if she was in pain. Without thinking, he carefully put Aurelie on the floor to immediately get up and follow James._

_"PAPA!" Her voice, which was filled with panic, echoed through the house. "PAPA HJÆLPE!" she cried in Danish._

_"Victoria!" Hans yelled back. He gave one last glance at Aurelie before running to the corridor. He noticed the front door was still opened. He had no time to close it, he had to get to his daughter._

_"VERONIQUE!" he yelled. He was sweating a river, his eyes were widened and the tears emerged in them. He wouldn't survive it if he would lose and his fiancée, and his unborn child and his daughter in one evening._

_"PAPA I'M HERE!" She was upstairs._

_Without thinking he sprinted up the stairs, past his and Aurelie's bedroom, to the new room of her sister._

_Nothing._

_"Papa!" This time her call for help was filled in agony, and he could hear she was sobbing her eyes out._

_Without thinking he ran to his and Aurelie's bedroom. He turned his head over his shoulder, his fretting eyes piercing over it to look if James didn't stand behind him for a surprise attack. His heart pounded hard in his chest as he opened the drawer of his bed stand to take his Semi-Automat 9mm._

_He loaded the firearm before opening in a single movement the door of the baby room. To his abhorrence he saw James firmly grabbed his daughter by her arm to hold her closely to him. Her back bumped into his leg and she couldn't escape out of his violent grip._

_A gun was put to the side of her head._

_He aimed his shotgun on James. "Hands off Veronique," he hissed protectively in fury._

_"Put your finger on that trigger and I'll shoot your daughter," James warned him, while holding his little girl tightly by her arm. Hans' eyes widened when James loaded the gun. Victoria looked up when she heard the sound again. It was like she knew she could end in the exact way as her mother, because her underlip began to tremble in agony._

_Hans shut his eyes, a tear escaping the corner of his eye, and eventually he lowered his weapon._

_"Now," James continued, "put it on the ground," he ordered. Hans lowered to the ground, never breaking eye contact with the criminal, and he put his gun on the floor. He raised again and as he did, he raised his hands in a surrendering way._

_"Kick it to me."_

_Hans did what he was asked to. The Semi-Automat slid over the floor with a few spins towards Pitch. He took the gun and put it in the inside of his chest pocket._

_"You'll pay for all you did," James hissed._

_"Please don't shoot Ver -"_

_James interrupted him, and threw it on an ultimatum. "Quit the ISA, become my right hand, and cooperate with me in the future or I'll shoot your daughter, right here, right now."_

_The taciturnity hit him, and he helplessly stared at my daughter, who was nearly fainting out of aghast._

_"Hey I at least give you a choice," James shrugged with a wicked grin. "It's not that hard right? Or you choose my side and I let her live, or you choose the 'good' side and I'll shoot daughter."_

_Hans scowled in abomination._

_"Think about it. If I shoot her, you'll be single again, you'll have no kids anymore, you can begin all over new, you can live a whole new life, you'll be a brand new Hans, and you'll never hear of me again!" James chuckled._

_"The only thing that's standing in the way is Victoria. But hey, I'm here to help you, I'll do the dirty work for you, I'll pull that trigger for you, I'll make sure you'll be happy again."_

_Hans closed his eyes. He couldn't believe how much influence James's words had on him._

_He remained silent and he contemplated what his choice would be. Then he boldly spoke; "I'll quit the ISA, I'll help you in the future, I'll do everything for you, but just don't shoot Victoria, I beg you."_

_James looked up in apparent surprise and spoke; "you're going to have so much regret choosing this."_

_"But okay," he ended with an indifferent shrug before removing the gun from her head._

_Hans expected Victoria would be given back to him, but James didn't. James's hand glided down Victoria's arm, while his other hand rested on her shoulder to keep her close to him._

_He took her golden bracelet in his hand and translated the Latin engraving out loud. "Conceived out of love'," he smirked wickedly. " 'Victoria, our pride'. How cute -"_

_"Give me my daughter back!" Hans demanded. "You pro -"_

_"Promised it?" James chuckled. "No. Yes, I said I'll let her live but I've never said you're allowed to raise her, get her back."_

_"He's known to play games with people," Louis, the interrogator, groaned heartedly after Hans took a pause._

_"Huh, tell me about it," Hans scornfully groaned._

_"So the evening turned even worse just because of this?" Louis spoke incomprehensibly._

_"Oh no, this was only the beginning..." Hans sighed._

_James demanded, "you'll take your absolute distance from her forever, and once you even try to get in contact with her, tell her or misspeak yourself about the fact you're her father you two will both get a bullet for your heads."_

_Hans hissed in fury; "all this just because I told Laurence about your hiding place -"_

_"Breaking a promise is for me the biggest sin you can possibly make. And I hate people who don't do what they say. You're one of them, and now you'll pay for the price."_

_The tears emerged once more in Hans' eyes. "You can't do this! -'_

_"Oh I can and have all reason to after you've betrayed me. I'm so done with those saints like you who feel 'called', who feel it's their 'duty' to tell everything to some North or Laurence," James scowled. He let go of Victoria and he made his way to Hans, who immediately stiffened out of fear._

_"Put her in bed, wait till she falls asleep and put the house on fire. Because now I think about it, I see no purpose of letting her live..." James apathetically shrugged._

_"What?! And leave her? Never," Hans protested._

_"Or it is missing your dead daughter, or your living. Trust me, it's far more painful to have a living daughter you're not allowed to see, cuddle and love, than that she's just dead." Somehow James' voice sounded croaky, yet it was filled with emotion._

_"Life creates hope, death creates acceptation in such cases," James wisely added._

_"I only do it to offer you my help, but hey if you don't want it then okay..." he ended with a shrug. "Cause who am I tell you what to do..." James ended in a slight whistle while looking around._

_"No, you're right," Hans sighed. "I'll…I'll do it.."_

_A smile flourished across James''s lips. "Good. You have twenty minutes to say goodbye. I'll wait for you in the corridor downstairs. Till then my friend." And he left._

_Hans ran to his daughter, threw himself on the ground and tightly hugged her. Victoria clamped herself on him while she harrowingly cried. "He's mean and scary, daddy," was all she could sob in his chest._

_"Tell me about it, dear, tell me about it," Hans sighed softly while running through her hair._

_"Dad?" Victoria asked and she looked up. "Is he gone now? The mean man I mean."_

_"Yes, he's gone. Come, let's get you to bed," and he picked her up. She tightly wrapped her trembling arms around him. He was as scared as her, but he wouldn't show it, he would be strong._

_All the time Victoria began to ask questions while he brushed her teeth, washed her hands and changed her into her night gown. 'Daddy, what did the mean man mean with 'shooting' me?', 'Daddy, where's mummy? Is she still lying on the ground downstairs?', 'Daddy, I don't understand it.'_

_And then the last one 'Daddy, why are you crying?'_

_He couldn't speak, he was at loss for words. His affliction silenced him._

_He made her ready for bed for the last time, looked in her eyes for the last time, sang her asleep for the last time, cuddled her for the last time, held her for the last time, gave her a night kiss for the last time, and looked at her._

_For the last time._

_He raised from her bed and walked to the doorway. Things went far to fast. He wanted to go back in time and change the past, he wanted to make his mistake up._

_But it was too late for that._

_He couldn't believe what he was doing, what on earth was happening._

_He flicked off the light and the room filled itself with darkness. The light of the corridor fell on her bed. Her wavy red hair was spread out over her pillow, her complexion was as fair as her snow-white sheets, and a pair of wise green eyes stared at him._

_There was she, lying helplessly in oblivion in her little bed, waiting for tomorrow, but if only she knew she would never see daylight again._

_The sheets were pulled up till her nose, her fretting eyes piercing over them._

_"Godnat, min elskede," he smiled softly._

_"Godnat, papa. I morgen."_

_He cast his eyes down in shame for not telling her the truth, for not telling her there would be no tomorrow, that there would be no dawn, no Eos. Only Nyx._

_She would die in it._

_"I love you. Never forget it," he whispered with a warm smile. The tears burned in his eyes, but he boldly blinked them away._

_Across Victoria's lips flourished a beautiful smile. She folded her hands above the sheets and let them rest on her lap. "I love you too, and I promise I'll never forget it."_

_He gave her one last warm smile before closing her bedroom door. Once it was shut, he buried his face in his hands to sob his eyes out. A hand was put on his shoulder and he looked up. James stood behind him and spoke._

_"It's time."_

"It's true," Hans confessed. "I put my house on fire with my daughter in it."

"But I only teamed up with Pitch Black, or well James to protect her, to make sure she wouldn't die. And put me in jail for arson, but please do know I didn't do it because I wanted her dead."

Louis spoke, "well…the judges should fight this case out, not me. And when your verdict will be spoken keep in mind there will be consequences for your actions. For instance, I wonder how you want to defend yourself for the fact you put your house on fire with your daughter in it? Sure, I understand Mr. Black pushed you to do it and yes I believe you, but as long as you don't have any evidence you're good as screwed. Or you need to be so lucky James will confess." Louis shrugged apathetically with his shoulders as he spoke.

Hans didn't know what to say, but Victoria surely did. "Dad, in TV shows and movies they always say 'I demand to see my lawyer' on moments like these. So yeah uh, I think it's the right moment to say that now."

Elsa giggled, but Hans ignored the pipsqueak.

Louis sighed before suggesting, "let's take a quick break and listen to what Oliver said in his interrogation. After all, he gave permission you may listen to it."

* * *

**VICTORIA**

Hans affirmed Oliver had spoken the truth in his interrogation, and Victoria groaned when realising this would probably mean he wouldn't get fifteen years jail or so.

As her dad and Louis talked, she looked up when a seventeen-year-old guy with raven black hair and a pale complexion walked past the window.

When she noticed it was Oliver her heart skipped a major beat, it began to pound harder, her eyes widened, a heat wave attacked her and the tears emerged in her eyes.

Life seemed to pass in slow motion. He struggled against a police officer that held him, and as he did so, he noticed her. His ice-cold gaze was filled with hate, then not to talk about his squinted eyes.

She stared at her ex and gave him as a last salute a middle finger.

That was the last time she saw Oliver.

Victoria moved her head back when Louis soberly spoke. "Good, now we have the past told we can move on to the present. So, if I understand this well James wanted you to become Michael's advisor?"

"Yes, and eventually I became close friends with him and his wife, Katherine."

"I see, and once you were close enough with them and had access to all the passwords and codes it was the plan you would do the dirty work for James by giving him the passwords of Michael's bank account."

"Exactly, and I didn't do it in the end, as Oliver already said and explained."

"Good. Well, how about your...daughter. Tell me how you found her back," Louis demanded.

"Okay it was like this... It was December 2014, and I worked for Michael as his financial advisor for about three months when they got an adoption child, a fifteen-year-old girl named 'Veronique'. That was when my world was turned upside down."

"My eyes widened in pure shock, and my jaw dropped when I noticed my little girl had turned into a woman. Eleven years had changed her. Her hips got more curves, her hair had become longer, her face'd become more mature, and her baby face was gone. Now I finally realised how much I missed her, how much I missed of her growing up, how many birthdays, how many milestones in her life I'd missed, and it hurt me."

The girl wore a non-sleeved white crop top, high skinny jeans that covered up her belly button and some high heels. Her red hair was braided in a Dutch braid on the side of her head, as the rest of her hair rested over the forefront of her shoulder.

She was a copy of her mother.

"And then her eyes, it hurt to look in them... Never had I seen so much pain and neglect in someone's eyes as in hers..." Hans sighed wistfully. "She was as closed as an oyster, I saw it immediately.

He approached his daughter and extended his hand. He decided to play obliviously. "So, Veronique Smith huh?" he spoke thoughtfully, and their eyes met. Hers seemed dissatisfied, unhappy and pessimistic.

"Victoria Leroux," she corrected him coldly.

"Hans Westerguard," he spoke amusedly. She didn't show any sign of recognition at all. She just stared at him like he was a total stranger for her. Somewhere it hurt him.

"Who did your hair like that?" he asked friendly. "I like it."

"I did it myself," she monotonously groaned over her shoulder, since she'd already turned around to walk away.

"How do you know I'm your daughter when you hadn't seen me for over eleven years?" Victoria snorted in suspicion.

"You think I wouldn't recognise my own child?" Hans chuckled. There fell a silence after his words, but then he spoke with a frown, "you wore short sleeves when I met you, Victoria."

Hans' words hit her straight in the heart and the corners of her lips dropped. Her eyes moved to her inner arms, which were still covered in dried up blood. The cuts Oliver had made throbbed and stung. They looked absolutely horrifying. She twitched in disgust while looking at the scars.

It was silent after his words and Victoria's under lip began to tremble while she blinked her tears away. A year ago her skin had been so pure, so smooth, so equal, as if the Kashmir of heaven wrapped its silk around her.

Now it was a battlefield.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Louis demanded suspiciously, and his eyes moved from Victoria to Hans.

"My daughter cuts herself," Hans clarified soberly, but Victoria noticed he hid behind a facade. Behind it, he was crying.

"Does she get professional help?" Louis spoke not-amused, before he sipped some of his coffee.

She spoke before her father could do it for her. "I don't need any help; I can handle myself, thank you," she shot bitchily at him.

Louis protested in a hum as he swallowed his coffee before he contradicted her; "well I think you do need help -"

"You don't dare me to sent me to yet another psychologist!" she warned him while pointing her finger at the interrogator.

"Eh no, I was actually about to advise you to follow EMDR therapy when I see your past," Louis clarified business-like while he browsed through her papers.

"I'm sorry EMDR-what?" Victoria echoed.

"EMDR therapy; it's used to cope with traumas. Tell me some of the things that haunt you."

"The shooting, the sight of my dead mother, my hands and clothes which are covered in her blood, I'm scared of guns, I'm traumatised by Oliver who forced me to have sex with him, he cut me, James threw me against a wall, he beat me, and I just have a problem with violence in general..." Victoria rattled matter-of-factly.

"But I don't want to talk about it!" she added firmly. "Only with people I trust."

"Look Victoria, that's the thing about EMDR; you don't have to talk a lot. Actually you're silent the whole session. We'll give you more information when we're done with the interrogation."

"Anyway," Louis sighed. "So, what did you say to Mr. Black when discovering your child obliviously walked in front of you?"

"I begged him to let me be reunited with Victoria, but he was inexorable. If I would tell her I was her father and he would discover it he would shoot both of us."

"But he never said you weren't allowed to become best friends with her," Elsa spoke in realisation. She finally seemed to understand why he'd always acted like this father figure for her.

"Exactly," Hans affirmed.

"So when you found her back it was this huge surprise? You really hadn't arranged this behind James' back or so?" Louis groaned.

"I didn't find her back, I was brought back to her. You can call me crazy but I call it fate."

"And I call it unbelievable coincidence," Louis spat back with a ruthless cock of his eyebrow. As he spoke his gaze moved to Victoria, who daringly fired a glare back. "Did you never see the situation as endless?" Louis continued sighing.

"Oh yes. Victoria is in her exam year and so there was a big chance she would move out to live on her own when she'd study at university. I would never be able to see her ever again and she would never become part of my life again. I… Well after the shooting I have a lot of nightmares, I felt like a bad parent for leaving my child, I couldn't sleep because of these vicious circle thoughts, and so I got sleeping pills."

Everyone held their breath. "I once took an overdose," he confessed. "And I once put my semi-automat to the side of my head, but I couldn't pull the trigger. I just couldn't, because deep down there always burned a sparkle of hope it would be alright again, that the situation would change, but when? Not as long as I shut my mouth, I realised."

"So you chose for it to yell 'you keep your hands off my daughter' when James beat up Victoria?" Elsa concluded.

"Yes, definitely. I was willing to die if James wanted to shoot me for the fact I misspoke myself. Even though I knew Victoria would get a bullet for her head as well."

"Now we know enough of your past, and now we partly know the truth, I have one last question left before we're going to talk with Victoria. I wonder if you consider yourself guilty in this situation."

Hans wistfully stared at the table underneath him. "It was never intended to become like this. All I've ever wanted to be is a family man, not the right hand of the UK's and USA's most wanted criminal." He twitched in self-hate.

Elsa laid her hand on his shoulder when he buried his face in his hands, and his shoulders began to jolt. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I did bad things but does that make me a bad person?"

"It depends on the situation," Louis spoke thoughtfully.

"Hans, I don't know if you know it, but you're the hero of the story," Elsa spoke softly. "You only pulled that trigger to protect your daughter and all you did was for the good, not the bad." Their eyes met she smiled warmly at him.

"Even when James didn't want it you made sure Victoria and I wouldn't starve, I mean you even made lasagna for Victoria on the second day we were hold in James' apartment, and when I nearly fainted out of starvation you made sure I got to eat something as well."

"People please, I understand calling this guy 'not guilty', but a hero?" Louis sighed objecting.

Elsa fiercely turned her head to the interrogator and spat, "Louis, please stop acting like a dick and see that Hans isn't the villain of the story or so. He's an ex agent for the ISA after all, and he only quit because James said he had to," Elsa shot at the rather coldly police officer. "He's not a monster."

And then she added. "But a father."


	41. FINAL AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hello everybody,

First off, this author's note will be posted on every story of mine.

Second, I wrote this super fast and so bear with me if there are any grammar mistake shit things in here.

Wow that wasn't even correct English.

Anyway,

Okay, so hello everybody,

As you all probably noticed I haven't updated the past months. This is because one: I'm not into Disney anymore and two: I'm busy writing my book series.

I'm going to talk about the last argument to clear things up.

One of my stories 'The Vengeance of Love' has become so dear to me that I'm planning on publishing it.

Before you're going to burst out in laughter and think 'lol that story's a mess, the grammar is awful and half of what she writes doesn't make sense,' I know people, I know.

But here comes the plot twist: you're reading the draft version.

What you see on Fanfiction is not my best work. What you read here is how I write when I don't take things too seriously.

The past months I've been growing a lot and I still am. I don't want to become the best writer of the world, but I want to become the best of what I can possibly be!

I hope that made sense, otherwise the whole magic of the quote is gone.

Simsalabim.

No but seriously,

The Vengeance of Love has become too complex for a sweet Frozen fandom where we just want to read love-centred, fussy love drama if you get what I mean. I'm too serious for this fandom, too passionate and my dream is to become a published author.

Why do I decide to tell you guys this news now?

Well because book one is officially getting edited.

For the people who still don't get why the F I'm busy with a story like the Vengeance of Love, you won't recognise this book series if it gets published.

Why?

I'm rewriting all the books-I'm just done rewriting book one

I deleted a bunch of unnecessary scenes

Lewis is gay-I'm not even kidding.

third person becomes first person

the story will be more 'mature'

Jack and 'Eloise' act like adults and not like two friggin' kids

I show, don't tell

I made a timeline so I could tackle the plot holes

I deleted a bunch of unnecessary characters

I've learned that adjectives kill your writing and that I should use 'strong' verbs

SHORTER CHAPTERS (2-4 K). Wow it was about time Irene.

I'm improving characters' personalities

I've changed the names so Disney won't sue me

I'm going to work with main characters, instead of that I randomly jump from POV to POV in the middle of a friggin' scene.

The plot has improved

I noticed my scenes were very messy, like I randomly jumped from subject to subject.

etc. etc. etc.

I want to live my dream, and for that I need to fully focus myself on my trilogy.

I'm not going to sit here and wait for my fairy god mother to come and fulfil my goals in life because you'll never get somewhere if you keep dreaming.

I understand if you guys are upset or disappointed but this is the only way-not trying to sound dramatic though.

Disney always says you have to follow your dreams and _persue_ them...this is mine. I want to add something to this world, a story, a book, I want to inspire people and so this is my plan, this is what I'm going to do in life.

So I think the message is clear: I quit fan fiction officially and won't update Nemesis/ The Vengeance of Love anymore. The same rules for any other story I've put out here.

Also guys, Veston Adelaide will become a published novel if everything goes as planned. And it's not going to be drama/romance but I changed the genre to horror. Now, it's about asylums, demons, and all that shit.

I get the fucking chills writing this book because it's even darker than my soul.

Just kidding.

I'm crying my eyes out at the moment because I'm scared. Maybe this won't become anything, maybe my book series will flop whatever more but I'll fight myself through this.

I have so much left for the world.

I want to thank you all. You guys made me decide I want to become a writer, you guys taught me so much, because of this fandom, this website, because of YOU I realised I am a writer.

Thank you, thank you for everything, for all your love, all your reviews, follows, favourites. I love you guys, I love you.

I don't expect The Vengeance of Love to become some best seller, I don't expect to become some famous author, but I do dream of it.

If you want to come in contact with me just befriend me on Facebook or send me a DM on Instagram, it's okay.

Facebook: Irene Stassen

instagram: irenestassen

If everything goes as planned you can buy my novel on Amazon or something like that within two years.

Thank you for everything.

-Irene out.


	42. AN: I'M BACK AND THIS TIME ON WATTPAD

**Dear, amazing, always supportive followers, **

**I did what I told you I'd do in my last A/N: I followed my dream, worked my ass off, and finished the first two books of my series The Vengeance of Love. Now before I'm going to publish it, I want to put it on Wattpad. **

**And now I thought, since lots of you guys pitied I left the fandom, maybe you want to check it out and follow/review. I miss you all a lot and I'd be great to reconnect through WP. **

**My username: Nyxandeos **

**Story: The Vengeance of Love - Collision, book one**

**Before I say goodbye, and this time for real, I'd like to thank you for all the sweet, amazing, encouraging reviews I got from you all the past years. And I'm sorry this is another Author's Note and not a story update, but I'm just too lazy to send 250 PMs to all my followers hahaha. **

**Anyway, thank you for everything, and I hope we'll reconnect through Wattpad.**

**XOXO**

**-Irene**


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